Bloodlines
by Awesome Name
Summary: It all started with Raven's nightmares. A demon is foisted on the team. Can they band together to stave off the end of all things?
1. Prologue

Bloodlines

A Teen Titans Fanfiction

Prologue: In the Watches of the Night

Purple lightning crackled across the orange sky. Raven was running, though from where, and _to_ where, she wasn't quite sure. Well, 'running', perhaps was the wrong term; she was fleeing for her life. She was being chased by flaming winged skulls, and the ground had become a mire in which she would sink if she alighted. She knew this with the awful clarity that comes to us in our dreams, be they nightmare or no. A shadow blocked out the sun, and she turned to fight, a dark aura enveloping her hands, her eyes beginning to glow.

_Join me,_ the shadow spoke to her, _join me and together we can bring order to this world._

_Never!_ She screamed back, though she was not conscious of moving her lips at all. _I beat you already! You are gone forever, now leave me in peace!_

_Foolish child, I will never be truly gone from this world. And you _will _join me, though whether it will be as consort or servant is for you to decide._ The shadow beast laughed, a roar that drove the lesser demons to the ground in fear. A gout of black fire enveloped Raven, and suddenly there was no ground beneath her feet. She tumbled into the abyss, with the insane laughter of the dragon following her down. From an eternity above, she heard massive wings begin to beat, and she knew she was finished. Falling helpless down the chasm, she could see a river of fire beneath her, and the sky was blotted out by the demon diving towards her.

Everything began to slow to a snail's pace she could see every contour of the walls to either side. Horribly slowly, the dragon's talons reached out for her, she closed her eyes and bit back against the screams she knew must come….

…and she jerked awake in her room in the titans' tower, gasping and bathed in a cold sweat.

_Another nightmare about Malchior,_ she thought. _Why do I keep having them?_ She looked over at the bookcase on the wall opposite her, to reassure herself that the book she had bound him in years before was still where she had left it. Sure enough, the leatherbound volume was still on the shelf, double-warded to keep it from causing mischief, either physically or metaphysically. She crossed the room and laid her hand on it. _The spells haven't been broken,_ she deduced, _maybe it's just me dwelling on it._

And that wasn't such a far-fetched notion in and of itself, with all the team, and raven personally, had had to deal with in the last few years. First, Terra betraying the whole team to Slade, then her 'father', the demon Trigon, attempting to conquer the planet, the brotherhood of evil, five individuals nearly succeeding where thousands of other villains had failed: they captured almost every hero in the world, and imprisoned them. With all of that going on, surely some nightmares were nothing exceptional, right? _Yeah, keep telling yourself that,_ she thought, _maybe you'll even start believing it._

She glanced at her wall clock. It was nearly 6 am anyway, so she decided to go straight down to the kitchen and make some breakfast. She turned to walk away, when something clicked. She spun on her heel and looked at Malchior's book, and the shelf it was on, again. It took her a moment to realize what was wrong.

While the shelf it lay on was coated in almost three years of dust, there was none on the book itself, though she could remember thinking just the day before how ordinary it looked, coated in a quarter-inch of dust. And there, on the shelf just to the right of where it had lain, was a single handprint, slightly larger than her own.

Somehow, someone, in the middle of the night, had sneaked into her room, disabled or disregarded a half-dozen different types of security, and meddled with Malchior's prison.


	2. Chapter 1: The morning after

Chapter 1

Raven awoke in a cold sweat. This was all too quickly becoming a familiar routine. In her dreams, the man with the strange eyes would chase her, sometimes down streets, more often down a dead-end alley. She would barely keep ahead of him, she would feel his breath on the back of her neck, and she would scream, shattering the nightmare and returning here. She doubted any of the others had heard her any of the nights, but it still galled her to be so out of control of her own emotions.

Before leaving the room, she checked again on the most dangerous books of her collection. The Grimoire and Necronomicon were gathering dust as they had been for the past few years, but when she glanced cursorily at the third book, the tome that imprisoned Melchior, her breath stopped. There was a handprint in the dust that covered it. She tested her hand against the size of it, the print was perhaps a half-inch wider than her own hand. She gave a small sigh of relief. In the form he was imprisoned in, Melchior's hand was smaller than her own. This thought gave her solace for a bare moment, until it dawned on her that she didn't know who could have bypassed all her wards to enter her room undetected. Then she saw something which froze her blood. A single rune had been drawn in the dust, and she left the room in what might have been mistaken for panic by a casual observer.

Robin was sprawled on the couch, product of an exhausting night, snoring loudly. Beast Boy and Cyborg stood over him, the former with a permanent marker, the latter with makeup pilfered from Starfire, and both sporting identical maniacal grins. They started as raven rushed into the room, certain it was Starfire and that the jig was up. Beast Boy was the first to recover. "Jesus, Raven, would it kill you to make some _noise_ when you're moving?"

"No, but it might kill _you_ if I made enough noise to wake up Star, don't you think?" she replied levelly. "She was in the shower when I went by her room, so you probably have a few minutes. Just don't involve me." With that she floated over to the kitchen and began to rummage through the cabinets for the tea leaves. Not finding it, she called over her shoulder, "if you idiots moved my tea again, I'll do something unspeakably horrible to you. "

Beast Boy, who'd been on the receiving end of such treatment before, cringed and said "top shelf, at the back," and gave a small sigh of relief when Raven found it and moved to the coffee maker. Then he turned back to Robin, grinning.

Raven made herself a small pot of tea and sat down at the table with a book. She opened it to where a ribbon marked her place. It had been a busy week, so she'd been stuck on the same chapter for days now. Sure enough, no sooner had she cracked it open than the red light above the master computer started flashing, and a siren began to cycle. Robin, instantly awake, leaped from the couch, knocking Beast Boy and Cyborg away, though the items in their hands had mysteriously disappeared. Raven floated lazily over, holding her tea. "Who is it this time?" she asked between sips.

"There was a break in at a… what are you staring at?" he asked. Raven shrugged and focused on the screen. She must have been more affected by the nightmares recently than she had thought. Usually she wasn't one to lose her composure the way Robin's expression told her she had. "Anyway," Robin continued, "there's been a break-in at one of the factories downtown. They smashed a hole through the wall big enough to drive a truck through, so my guess is it's Cinderblock."

Starfire flew through the door to join them. Robin turned to her. "Star, get ready, we're headed out…. _Why_ is everyone staring at me today?!" he demanded. Everyone assured him it was nothing.

Cyborg headed for the garage to get the wheels back on the car. Beast boy headed into the kitchen to whip up breakfast for the team, and Robin punched Aqualad's number into the communicator. After a few buzzes, the hero's face showed up onscreen. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was mussed up. "What's up, Robin? It better be…." He trailed off.

"For god's sake, what is wrong with everyone today?!" robin yelled. "do I have something on my….." He spun around, and his eyes landed on beast boy. Feeling the weight of his friend's gaze on his back, the green youth turned around slowly with an innocent look on his face. That usually meant anything _but. _Realization dawned on Robin in a sudden burst. "I'll call you back in a second, Aqualad," Robin said. "we might even have an empty spot on the roster over here if you're looking for a change of scenery." He stalked towards beast boy, who had dropped all pretense of acting innocent. Starfire and Raven were watching with varied degrees of interest.

"come on, Robin, it was just a joke, don't be like that, you'd be laughing if it was Cyborg." Robin kept advancing, going through the compartments in his belt, from smoke bombs, to the ice grenades, hovered for a second on the birdarangs, and finally settled on the paint bombs. He pulled out a handful of these. Beast Boy glanced left and right nervously. "Hey, man, that's not cool, you know those don't wash- AAH!" he ducked the first one, which splattered on the wall behind him. Three more followed it, and he escaped only by changing into a bird. He cawed indignantly and flapped off down the hall, with robin in pursuit.

Starfire looked at Raven with a blank, uncomprehending question on her face. "Friend Raven, why does friend Robin have 'penis' written on his forehead? Is this some earth tradition I do not know? Should I write it upon my head?" she was genuinely flustered. Raven, for the thousandth time that month, it felt like, sighed at Starfire's naiveté and began to explain.


	3. Chapter 2: The Fall

Author's Note: I cannot believe how long it took me to get off my bum and actually write this. I swear, assuming people actually read this and like it, I won't make you guys wait so long for the next chapter.

Chapter 2

Cyborg's car skidded to a stop by the gigantic hole in the warehouse wall. Cyborg and robin jumped out, and robin hauled beast boy out by the collar. "Look," he said, "if I have to fight with this written on my head, you can be pink for a day."

Beast Boy gave Robin the bird and shrank into a bat. Between himself and Raven, they would know within moments the layout of the building. He flew in and returned moments later. After a hasty conference, they turned to the others. It was Beast Boy who spoke.

"There's _something_ in there, but it isn't Cinderblock," he said.

"Whatever it is, it's alive, but not _alive_," Raven struggled with trying to put her psychic images into words. "It's like… like the things in Japan." Robin nodded, remembering the monsters.

"Like a puppet?" he asked. Raven nodded. "Well," he said, "no sense in holding back, then."

Raven and Starfire took to the air and circled to the back of the building, while Robin and Cyborg entered through the hole in the wall. Beast Boy, meanwhile, morphed into a rat and slunk along the interior wall. If the maneuver worked, the enemy would be caught in a three-way pincer movement.

Immediately upon entering, they could sense something amiss. Nothing had been moved out of place in the warehouse. In fact, aside from the hole in the wall, it looked as if nobody had set foot inside for months. Construction materials lay neatly in piles around the space, beams and bricks and plywood sheets. It took nearly five seconds for Robin to notice the large purple figure hunkered in the center of the room. If it hadn't moved slightly with respiration, he may never have noticed it at all.

"Titans! Go!" he yelled, pointing. Starfire and Raven swooped down from the shadows, starbolts and aura-covered debris streaking at the thing's back. Beast Boy, as a rhino, charged from the left, and Cyborg shot a sonic blast from the right. Robin braced himself to catch the thing's charge, which would surely be predictable: moving forward to escape the pain, right into robin's zone.

Except it didn't happen. As the rocks and starbolts hit home, the monstrosity vanished without a sound, leaving beast boy squawking as he was pelted by minor rubble. The others stopped, stunned.

"what the… Where'd it go?!" Cyborg yelled, spinning around, his optics searching frantically for any trace of the thing. The others fell into a ring formation, facing outwards, with raven in the center, eyes closed, progging for any trace of the creatures. She could find nothing humanoid within half a mile.

She opened her eyes. "It's gone. And not just left. It's like it never existed."

A short while later, after ascertaining that it was indeed gone for good, they filed out and got back into the car, subdued and slightly disturbed.

From the rafters in the warehouse, two sets of eyes watched them leave, their owners standing hidden in the shadows.

"What do you think? Was I right?"

"I'll hold off on that judgement until after the main event."

The first figure smiled good-humoredly. "Then we had best be on our way, friend."

* * *

Back at the tower, Robin had finally finished scrubbing the marker off his forehead, though it was now raw and red. He gave Beast Boy a murderous glare, before turning to raid the kitchen. Beast Boy smirked while Robin's back was turned. He still hadn't noticed the pink ribbons they'd tied in his hair. Beast Boy and Cyborg returned to their video game. Loading up a fighting game, cyborg began to efficiently dominate his opponent. Beast boy fumed good-naturedly. _Just wait, _he thought, _sooner or later we'll play that new racing game, and he's Mine._ True enough, when the games turned to reflex and speed instead of fighting, Beast Boy would usually win. Idly, as he watched his avatar rather brutally dismembered onscreen, he wondered whether it was coincidence, personal preference, or something bigger in the fact that he excelled in games in the same areas as in real life. He shrugged inwardly. The odds of it ever mattering were somewhere between slim and none.

Some time later, they were jerked out of their trance-like state by a high-pitched squeal. They turned, Beast Boy wincing at the sound. Starfire was squeezing Raven in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground. She let go, and Raven slowly floated back to the ground, gasping for breath. Starfire looked at the pair on the couch. "Rejoice, friends, for it is the night of the scary movie marathons!" she exclaimed, balling her fists up and pressing them against her cheeks, the very picture of innocent enthusiasm. "Friend Robin has chosen me to select the films for our viewing!"

Cyborg sidled over to Raven. "I think you had better go with her this time, Rae" he said quietly, so that Starfire wouldn't hear. "Remember what she came back with last time she went alone?"

Raven nodded, somehow not smirking. Starfire had gone to rent Saving Private Ryan. The team had gotten together on the couch, popcorn had been made, Cyborg had even invited bumblebee to come over from coast city. The lights dimmed, and Starfire did the honors, inserting the DVD and hitting Play. She had settled down between robin and raven and laid her head on Robin's shoulder, and the movie started. Only it wasn't Saving Private Ryan she had picked up, It was Shaving Ryan's Privates. Beast boy choked on popcorn, raven snorted and turned away, bumblebee turned on cyborg, calling him all sorts of names, and it was a coin toss as to whether robin's face or shirt were brighter red. And Starfire turned to him and whispered in his ear:

"is this what warfare is like on your planet?"

"…You might be right" Raven said, snapping back to the present. "Hey, starfire, why don't I come alon-OOMPH" she found herself in another Tamaranian bear hug.

"Of course, friend Raven!" Starfire beamed. Raven smiled back; it was hard not to, Starfire was one of those people you couldn't help feeling happy around. "Oh, it will be glorious! We shall rent the movie and stop for the yogurt that is frozen on the way back!" and leaving Raven no choice, she hauled her out the door by the hand.

* * *

"So it just disappeared?" Bumblebee asked, "It didn't put up a fight?"

Robin was in his quarters, with his personal terminal booted up. Three large displays bore the faces of other titans.

"That's right," he said, looking at Bumblebee. He had her on the center, with Herald on the left and Kid Flash on the right. Kid Flash's image flickered and appeared semi-transparent. Robin guessed he was running patrols in between comments. That made him difficult to talk to, but invaluable at the same time.

"Nothing," *flicker* "in my neck of the woods" Kid flash piped up. "I'll keep my eyes open though."

"It might not be on our plane at all, you know." Herald said. "The _way_ It disappeared, that's what's bugging me. There should have been something visible when it disappeared, or at least some displacement of air. You sure there wasn't other of those?"

"Yeah," Robin told him, and shrugged. "Keep an eye open, though you guys. It might be that creature that showed up after we put the brotherhood of evil on ice. We never did catch that thing. Maybe this is why."

"Will do." Kid flash gave a cocky salute and closed the channel. Herald nodded and did likewise. Bumblebee gave him an enigmatic look.

"Hey, you be careful. Something tells me this isn't over, and this whole thing just rubs me wrong." Robin nodded mutely and signed off. Sighing, he powered down the computer and turned to his bunk. He had time for a quick nap before Starfire and Raven got back with the movies.

Afternoon was bleeding on towards twilight when the two girls got back. Starfire was jubilant and hummed an alien song as she glided through the doorway. Raven walked behind her, glowering. Her hair was braided in the back, and her eyes promised painful death to anyone who dared to comment on this. Wisely, Beast Boy and Cyborg pretended not to notice, while she disappeared to her room to fix it.

Robin came into the room, his hair slightly more mussed than normal. When Raven returned, they all piled on the couch and robin put in the movie. It was a decent action movie called _Blood Stains_, perfect for the first showing. When the pizza showed up and full dark had fallen, then they'd put in one of the scarier ones. They'd been friends and a team for more than five years by now; it was down to a science.

The main character of this movie, an adventurous janitor named Jacob Decker , was confidently killing his way through a room full of ninjas, when the picture abruptly froze. Or rather, _most_ of the picture froze. The ninjas stopped in mid jump, the background music cut off in a screech like fingernails along a blackboard, and Decker turned to stare at the viewers. His eyes burst in a gout of blood, and he grinned horribly with a distended mouth suddenly too full of broken, bloody teeth. "_Hello kiddies.." _The monstrosity "_Won't you come out and play with us?"_ The five teens sat nonplussed.

"Control freak?" Beast Boy asked.

"Gotta be," Robin replied.

The view switched to an exterior shot of the tower from the beach. The Decker-monstrosity walked into view from behind the camera. "_Come out come out and plaaaay, or die inside,"_ it said with a giggle that sounded like a small child, which was oddly frightening.

Beast Boy got up to eject the disk. Hopefully this was just Control Freak, or one of his old pranks, since the manchild himself was still in prison. He tried not to show his nervousness as he did so, since rationally he knew that Control Freak couldn't actually do anything beyond shock tactics like this.

He was two feet away from the screen when it exploded into a thousand flying knives of glass.

He was turning and bringing his arm up to cover his face even as he realized it, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge completely. A large gash opened in his cheek, and he fell, crying out in pain. Raven got a shield up quickly enough to protect those still on the couch, and she quickly spread it to include Beast Boy. He tentatively reached up to feel his face. He was lucky; the shard had missed his eye by half an inch, and the bleeding was already slowing down.

From the ruined wallscreen, the child's voice came again, with a hint of petulance in it. "_I'm waaaiting…_."

_

* * *

Outisde the Tower_

The door opened, and moments later, the ochre force shield just inside was lowered. Starfire came out first, with Cyborg and raven behind. Robin and Beast Boy brought up the rear. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to catch them unprepared.

The beach was deserted.

"I don't understand…" Robin said, "why would whoever this is want us out here if they're not…." He stiffened, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. _It's a trap!_ He thought, and as he wheeled around, he caught sight of it at last, large claws dug into the metal above the door, in the camera's blind spot. Before he could draw breath to warn the others, It was upon them. A nightmare mishmash of claws and fangs; a fell beast beyond the fevered imaginings of whatever inmates populate the darkest pits of hell. It swept a limb backhand, catching Starfire and Cyborg and sent them sprawling on the ground. Raven wrapped her aura around a rock and smashed it against the creature's head.

The beast shrieked in pain! Beast Boy leaped on its back as a raptor, attacking with claws and teeth. Tar-black ichor burned his mouth and tongue, but before he could do any real damage, the creature grabbed him in one taloned hand, squeezing him until he could feel his ribs creak, then threw him against a rock, where he slumped dazed. Snarling, the creature slashed at the dirt with a spread hand and with some devilry, wind sprang up and a stinging curtain of sand obscured the monster from their view. In the half-light, someone shrieked in pain. Four titans turned toward the sound, and raven raised a massive dome shield to block the wind.

As the dust fell, they saw Robin in the monstrosity's grasp. It held him high above the sand and with a single jerk of a finger, tore his throat out. Robin made a gurgling sound as his life's blood fresheted out onto the sand. Seemingly unsatisfied with this, the creature dropped robin on the ground, and stabbed him through the chest with one claw. Robin jerked once and was still.

For one shocked moment, all was silent in the world, as if nature itself could not condone this. It seemed blasphemous, the greatest young hero in an age, who had gone toe-to-toe with would-be gods, to die like that, in a spreading pool of his own cooling blood, with 'penis' scrawled on his forehead.

Then the moment passed, and the demon bellowed its triumph to the sky.


	4. Chapter 3: Daemon Rising

Chapter 3

Demon Rising

Starfire shrieked and threw a huge starbolt at the beast that still stood over Robin's body. Cyborg let loose with his arm cannon at the same time, and the two blasts struck the monster square in the chest, forcing it back several steps. Cyborg kept up a continuous beam while Starfire fired hundreds of the energy balls with unbelievable rapidity. This gave Beast Boy an opportunity to get near Robin's body, desperately hoping to save his fallen leader. It was no use. There was no pulse, no flutter of breath on the dead boy's lips. Beast Boy cried out in anguish.

Blinking back bitter tears, the green-skinned hero turned toward the monstrosity. He morphed into a large raptor and leaped at the thing's exposed throat. Gaining a purchase, he bit down hard and was rewarded with a gout of the thing's strange blood. He ground down, determined to kill this demon before it could hurt anyone else. Before he could, however, he felt its huge hand grab him around the ribs and squeeze. He was forced to release it as his breath left hiim in one painful gasp, then he was flying, thrown casually by the monster. He skidded across the ground and slammed into the side of the tower.

Raven, meanwhile, was floating cross-legged above the ground with her eyes closed at a prudent distance, fighting to remain calm. For several seconds, she had been focusing her mind so that she could manipulate something big. Now, as the creature once more resumed the offensive, she spoke. "Azarath.. Metrion.." her eyes snapped open, burning black with the power of her aura. "ZINTHOS!" With this last evocation, her aura wrapped itself around a rock the size of a greyhound bus and flung it at the monster. It struck true, the thing's head was visibly caved in along the left hand side and it toppled to the earth. However, before they could celebrate, the monstrousity stood again, seemingly unperturbed by the ruin of its head. It turned in anger to Raven and charged across the beach.

"Raven!" cried Beast Boy, finally regaining his feet and trying to cut the thing off. He was too late. She barely managed to get a shield up in time, and even then, it barely slowed the creature's blow. She went down, stunned. Beast Boy reached her side in a moment, already shifting back from the cheetah's form he had taken. For the moment, the thing had lost interest in them, choosing to pursue Starfire and Cyborg, who were peppering it with the best they could, keeping it turning this way and with well-aimed shots.

Beast Boy leaned down close to Raven. She was concious, and didn't appear to be badly hurt at all. "Something's not right," she said quietly. "It's toying with us."

Beast Boy nodded. "And it's strange, it doesn't have a scent. Something's definitely up. Maybe this is Control Freak after all." He raised his head and smelled the light breeze. "There was certainly something else on the beach with us before this thing… before. I could smell it. Almost human, but I can't scent it anywhere. It's hard to even think about it... " He trailed off with a confused look on his face.

Raven glanced around the blood-strewn beach. Her eyes rested on Robin, and something clicked. "Beast Boy, let me into your mind for a moment. Hurry" She sat up and placed her hands on Beast Boy's head, right just in front of his ears. He felt a sharp pain behind his eyes, and then everything became quiet. Raven pulled her hands back, panting. "There. I locked your mind against tampering. What do you see?"

Beast Boy morphed smoothly into a timber wolf. He bared his fangs. She felt for his mind. _I see everything I need to_. He took off at a run towards an empty spot on the beach. Raven set to work applying a similar perception filter to herself. It was harder to do from inside. To do it to another meant basically to 'poke' something that hurt inside their head and let their own mental defenses do the rest. She slowed her breathing into a circular pattern, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw the truth.

Cyborg and Starfire were engaged in a duel with nothing. The monster was an illusion from the start. To the left was the real culprit. She saw it standing on one of the larger boulders that dotted the beach. It was a human-sized figure, playing a flute. She couldn't see its face clearly, but before it could notice her attention, she focused back on the empty space where the other titans fought with thin air. She chanted her mantra once more, raising a similar boulder , raising it as if to strike the illusory monster, then suddenly hurled it towards the flute player. It whipped its head around without missing a beat as it leapt clear. As it came down, however, Beast Boy caught its arm and flute in his teeth and bit down. The figure screamed in pain and blood; real blood, no illusion this time, gouted from his mangled left arm.

With a soundless explosion, the flute shattered and the illusion broke. The enemy tore his arm free of Beast Boy's Jaws and, spinning, whipped a heel hard across the wolf's muzzle. Finally, they got a clear look at the face of their opponent. Or rather, his lack of one. He had no eyes, no nose, no hair. The only distinguishable feature of his entire face was a mouth filled with silver fangs.

Starfire and Cyborg were understandably confused as their enemy once more vanished instantaneously. Raven, with the lack of subtlety that the situation demanded, pouned the information directly into their minds. To the infodump she added grimly, _Give me an opening to touch him and I'll be able to shut off his mind._

The enemy hissed and roared at the four titans as they closed in on him. He retreated a step, and felt something prod him in the back. He half turned to see what it was…

Throwing all his weight and rage into it, Robin swung his pole sidearm at the thing's face. It smashed hard into the silver fangs and drove the figure back against one of the rocks behind it. Cyborg was at his side in an instant, not questioning for the moment how Robin was returned from the dead, intent only on causing as much damage as he possibly could. With a cry of "BOOYEAH!" he punched on top of Robin's pole, which shattered under the second impact, and drove shards of metal into the enemy's face.

Immediately, the demon started to shriek, high and agonized. It clawed at its face, which had begun to flicker and melt. Leaping over their heads, he landed on the beach once more in the center of the group. He seemed to gain purchase on his face and ripped it off. It became a silver mask in his grip, dented horribly and he flung it to the sand in anger.

Standing where the demon had been a moment before was a young man, maybe 25 by his appearance. He glared at Cyborg and Robin from ice-blue eyes rapidly purpling from the recent blow. "I'll kill you for that," he snarled, stretching his arm out towards them. Instantly there was a large broadsword in his hand, and he leaped at the two titans.

Starfire hit him in the ribs, mid-leap, and he went down sprawling. He swung the sword blind at her, but Beast Boy caught his arm in a gorilla's grip and squeezed until the bones creaked. With a pained cry, he dropped the sword, which fell from his grip and landed point-down in the dirt.

It sank halfway to the hilt before stopping. He tried to kick at Beast Boy, but couldn't reach due to the length of the other's arm. Starfire grabbed his left arm and they pulled, and between the two of them they immobilized him long enough for Raven to get close. She reached out with one hand to the man's face, but he levered himself against the ones holding him, leaned back, and kicked her hard in the stomach with both feet. She fell to the ground choking. The man struggled in vain against the two heroes holding him, until Robin cracked him on the top of the head with the remains of his staff. The figure slumped semiconscious and Raven managed to lay a hand on his chest. The instant stretched out towards infinity as she felt herself drawn into his mind.

-----------------------------------------------------------_RAVEN----------------------------------------------------------------------_

The first thing she felt was that the pain in her stomach faded to a barely-noticable ache as her consciousness left her body. It was a welcome change. It had been all she could do to raise her hand without blacking out from pain.

Turning slowly, she took in her surroundings. The manifestation of a person's mindscape could be rather disconcerting, very much so in this case. In marked contrast to the frenzied, wrathful exterior of this person, his mindscape was a ruined Greek temple in the middle of a green field. Crumbling pillars enclosed a limestone floor roughly fifty yards square on three sides. The remaining side was dominated by a solid wall, and two large statues divided its length into thirds. Some trick of the light prevented Raven from discerning anything beyond the basic shape of the two figures. There was very little roofing left; most of it lay in heaps here and there around the periphery of the building, as if a halfhearted attempt at cleaning house had taken place long ago.

She decided to explore what was left of the interior, so she glided up to the statues. She didn't make the conscious decision to glide rather than walking; she had been taught by the monks of Azarath how to walk in another's mind, using techniques that she suspected were hypnotic, with the result that she didn't quite understand _how_ things were done in this state, only that it worked.

She stood beneath the eastern statue and laid a hand on its cold surface. It was a regal woman seated on a throne, holding a spear in one hand and an owl perched on her shoulder. _Pallas Athena_, Raven thought. _Knowledge, but knowledge with a sharpened edge on it._

Continuing to the next statue, she was taken aback for a moment. _This one doesn't belong here_, she thought. It was a weather-beaten sandstone work, depicting another seated woman, but she had the head of some kind of animal. Definitely Egyptian; Isis or Bast, perhaps. Off to the side, out in the surrounding garden, she saw more statues, seven featureless blobs in a row in the middle distance. She decided to see what they were; what else was important to this assassin.

"what are you doing in my sanctuary?" Someone asked from behind her. She half-turned, and tripped over a chunk of rubble. Something rushed through the spot where her head had been a moment before. She scrabbled back to her feet and faced her attacker. It was the young man from the sand, though he looked slightly different in this realm. His hair was brown and unkempt, and he sported noticeable stubble. In addition, he was unarmed, though that didn't seem to mean much in here. He raised his hand, palm out, and another shapeless ball of force rushed at Raven. This time she was ready though, and with a flick of her wrist she sent it ricocheting around the room. His eyes widened in surprise, and she pressed her advantage.

"You're in my world now, punk," she said with a tight smile, remembering how he had kicked her. Focusing her mind, she concentrated on the pain leaving her body, and it crystallized as a black orb the size of an apple. Feeling a bit of petty satisfaction, she willed the orb across the room and into the assassin. His mouth dropped open and a small choking sound escaped. The disbelief in his eyes bled over into pure rage, and the stone beneath Raven's feet became as insubstantial as water. She sank in to her ankles, just to let him get his hopes up, then levitated herself free and glided slowly towards him.

"So you think it's fun to harass and hurt my friends? Do you know how much you hurt us today?" she seethed at him. "No? Well then I'll show you." She reached out to the outside and fed all the hurt and fear and confusion from her friends directly into her opponent's mind. She was immediately rewarded with him falling to his knees, hands to his head.

"Mercy," He whimpered. "Enough, I yield."

"Now _that's_ funny." She said acidly. "After all you've done, that's actually funny. Now let me show you what _I _think is funny." She smiled with malice and turned the blood in his left arm to acid. Again he screamed, clawing at his melting arm. She wasn't sure what this would do to him in the real world, but it should keep his concentration fragmented enough that she would have a chance to more permanently disable him. Just to be sure, she lashed him in place with ropes of pure will. At the very least, she'd know if he moved.

"Help me" a small voice called from behind her, by the statues of Athena and the faceless Egyptian goddess. She turned to look, and found that a small, wrought-iron door had materialized between the two. A large timber was laid in channels across the front, crudely barring it. She glided up and put her ear to it.

"Is someone there?" she asked, with a glance over her shoulder to make sure that it wasn't a trick to make her lower her guard, but the young man was still where she had left him, trying to rebuild his arm faster than the acid ate it away.

"Help me," the voice said again, definitely from the other side of the door. It sounded like a very young boy, or maybe a girl. The voice conveyed sorrow and loneliness in it, and she instinctively wanted to help.

"Who are you?" Raven asked.

"The one he forgot. The one he locked away." She sounded on the verge of tears. "Please, open the door, let me take this body back."

The one lashed to the ground groaned. "Don't… Don't let it out." That was all it took to convince Raven. She dragged the timber out with a mental command, and pulled the door ajar. The voice from behind it chuckled. "My, but you _are_ gullible."

She barely sensed the orb of pure psychic hell that smashed into her, throwing her out of the trance.

* * *

Cyborg panted heavily, his hands on his knees. The moment Raven had made contact with this newcomer, they had both frozen in place. He and Starfire had kept a grip on the target's arms, until a minute or so into the trance, without a sound, the left arm had fallen off, leavinga bloody stump and Starfire holding the bloody limb. She dropped it in shock, and everyone else had backed off from Raven and her opponent. The young man collapsed and curled into a fetal position, never losing the vacant gaze he wore. Raven didn't react at all.

Robin took the opportunity during the lull to fill the rest in on what happened. When the sand blew up, he had been blindsided, gagged and tied up, while the newcomer used an image of him to terrorize the others with. Once he had finished, nobody else seemed in the mood to talk. Several minutes passed in tense silence.

Suddenly, Raven was skidding backwards into the rocks, and the young man was on his feet, his eyes to the sky. His whole body began to deform, growing larger and bulging in places. He spoke in a voice too deep to be human, a voice that sounded of age and power and relentless anger. Clouds rolled in from nowhere to blot out the stars.

"Weep creation, for this is the advent of Sharrakkor the Lord of All!" As he said this, a gout of flame erupted from the stump of his left arm. It coalesced and condensed into a solid mass of gold in the shape of a saurian forearm ending in a three-fingered clawed hand. He turned his head to regard this and smiled, his mouth impossibly full of fangs.

Even as they watched, the demon's, for there was no way to think of this creature as a human anymore, skull began to stretch underneath the skin; Indeed all over its body, the skin was being stretching tighter and tighter, until with a sickening sound obscenely like a zipper, the skin ripped along the back of its head and along its shoulders. Now roughly thirty feet tall, the monster reached up with its taloned left arm and ripped the remains of its human façade away, and stood naked before them, a black dragon with burning red eyes. It spread its wings and reared up, bellowing its triumph to the sky.

Settling back down on all fours, Sharrakkor looked down bemusedly at the five shocked Titans. "I owe youmuch," he said, "for loosing me from that fool's mind. And in such plentiful hunting grounds."

Raven lay stunned where she had landed. Beast Boy and Starfire were bent over her, but she couldn't concentrate on them. All she could hear were her own recriminations. _Again, not again, I let another one into the world._

Robin stood tall, not showing any fear of the monstrous dragon. He extended his staff and held it loosely in his hands. Speaking confidently, he addressed Sharrakkor. "I don't know what you are, but this is our place. We will protect it if we have to, so leave or we'll have to take you down."

Sharrakkor blinked. He was obviously somewhat taken aback by this. He lowered his head to peer at the small figure that dared to defy him. "Foolish Ant, I will leave when my hunger is sated, and not before. Be glad you are so unappetizing, for I am Ravenous after an aeon's imprisonment."

Robin gave a tight-lipped smile. "So you're hungry? Then chew on THIS!" and with all his strength drove the end of the pole deep into the dragon's eye. Black blood gouted and when Robin pulled back his weapon, nearly a foot of it had been corroded off by the acidic blood.

* * *

Raven was sinking deeper into an internal blackness. The walls were closing in around her, and all she could think about was how stupid she had been to trust someone again, especially after her recent dreams. She should have known what the dreams mean, what it meant when she saw Melchior.

_Melchior…_

A starburst of light exploded across her vision. Reflexively, she raised a hand to protect herself. It took her a moment to realize what had happened. Starfire had left to help Robin, and Beast Boy, growing hysterical, had slapped her to try and revive her. With an effort of will, she managed not to hit him back, as she desperately grasped for the scattered remnants of the revelation she had almost achieved. A moment later, she had it. She told Beast Boy what she needed, and he morphed into a bird and took off to the tower.

* * *

Sharrakkor shrieked in pain. He reared back, clawing at his ruined face. "You die for that, vermin!" he snarled. Drawing breath into his cavernous lungs, he blew an enormous gout of fire all across the beach. The rocks that were caught within it were melted into slag, and most of the sparse vegetation was incinerated instantly. Raven held the fire back from Robin and star with a shield, while at the same time, going over the spell she would need soon in her mind. She'd get one shot if she was lucky.

Cyborg tried to tune out the yells of his teammates, focusing instead on the wiring in his right arm. He had to get his trump card fixed in time to distract the dragon.

Again and again the monster battered Raven's shield, wearing both it and her endurance down, little by little. She almost cried out in relief when she saw a green bird swoop down from the top of the tower, carrying a book. The next time the dragon stopped for breath, Raven dropped the shield.

Sharrakkor roared in triumph. He drew in a mighty breath to incinerate the puny mortals who dared defy him, but as he opened his mouth to spew molten death, Starfire flung a starbolt down his throat. The effect on the dragon was intense. His throat bulged, as the pent up fire was stopped and scattered by the explosion. He began to retch, and vomited burning goo onto the rocks. The stench was horrendous, but Raven still managed to stand tall, the Grimoir in her hand. Drawing on its power, she felt a hundredfold as strong as any demon.

The dragon's eyes locked with hers as she began. "You should never have come to our world," she said calmly. "Hope you like life as a bookmark. _Aldruon Enlenthra Nalthos Sola Narisnor_!"

Tendrils of black aura emanated from her mouth and hands, mingling with a pure white radiance from the book, and the resulting power struck the dragon squarely in his chest. Scattering from the point of impact, it split off into many tentacles and enveloped the dragon . Raven smiled in grim satisfaction as she felt the spell pulling the dragon into the book.

Her relief was short-lived, however, as with a roar Sharrakkor burst the cocoon of light, speading his wings and screaming his defiance to the sky. He lowered his head and peered at Raven. "Where did you learn that spell, little bird? Tell me, and perhaps I shall let you live." Raven stepped back, her eyes wide with shock. That had been her last gambit. Another step back, and she tripped over a low stone and fell heavily. The dragon advanced towards her. She scrabbled to her feet and turned to run, all thoughts of strategy temporarily flown from her mind.

She made it three steps, and then the dragon caught her in one huge, taloned hand. She began to panic, losing control of her powers. Whips of pure energy lashed along the dragon's arm and body as he drew her back towards him. "I don't recall giving you permission to leave. So you would turn me 'into a bookmark' as you so eloquently put it. What _am_ I going to do with you?" as he said this, he ran a claw lightly across her throat. Raven was too terrified to make a sound. Even her powers had deserted her. Again the claw slid across her throat, this time drawing a thin line of blood. "Perhaps I'll just eat you," He said, running his tongue along the back of her neck. "One. Inch. At a time. " Hating herself for her weakness, Raven found a sob of terror clawing its way out of her.

"Hey, fucknuts!" Cyborg yelled. Sharrakkor swiveled his neck to look at this new development. The half-man seemed to be attached to the tower he stood in front of. One of his arms was undergoing some sort of transformation. It stretched from its normal length to roughly the size of a ship's mast. The other arm followed suit, and a small helmet flipped over his head. Sharrakkor paused, his head cocked to one side as he viewed this curiosity.

Cyborg raised the twin cannons and trained the targeting reticle on the dragon's chest. He prayed silently that the dragon's indecision would last another moment or two. He had had to call attention to himself earlier than he had anticipated, when the dragon caught Raven. In addition, the last time he had pulled this trump card out, it hadn't been enough to protect Raven. _Oh well, _he thought, _Last time pays for all. _He powered up the main gun and began to draw power.

The lights in the tower extinguished immediately, but Cyborg wanted more. He tapped into the Jump City power grid, and leeched off as much as he could. Across the bay, streetlights flickered, and traffic jams abounded when the electricity failed.

Back on the beach, Cyborg held the inferno in the cannons for a moment, braced himself and screamed at the dragon "Get the hell off my lawn, bitch!" triggering the full blast on both cannons. Sharrakkor's eyes widened as he realized what was happening, and he tried to dodge. He was partially successful. Instead of punching a hole the size of a buick in the dragon's chest, Cyborg's blast ripped off his right arm and wing, the exposed flesh and bone gouting black blood onto the beach as the dragon began to scream.

Releasing Raven as he fell, the dragon crumpled to the ground and began to writhe in agony.

"Oh, you bastards. I'll kill you… Kill you all!" he screamed, his voice beginning to weaken as he bled. With a tremendous effort, he blew a double lungful of fire onto the wound, melting the flesh and cauterizing it. He rose to one knee and turned to Cyborg, who could only lay unmoving on the sand, his batteries too drained to allow him to move.

Robin threw a handful of flashbangs directly into the dragon's eye, drawing his attention away from Cyborg. As soon as the dragon was distracted, Starfire swooped in and grabbed Cyborg, to take him to grab fresh batteries. Beast Boy and Robin kept a shifting pattern, not letting the dragon recover his faculties enough for a counterattack. Raven was still in near-shock, sitting against a rock half a dozen paces away.

Suddenly, thick ropes of flesh burst from the suppurating wound. Fearing some trickery, Robin and Beast Boy fell back to where Raven sat, but it immediately became apparent that something was amiss. The tentacles attacked Sharrakkor himself, wrapping around his throat and limbs, binding him so he crashed to earth in front of them. More tentacles encircled its head, lashing it in place and holding his jaws shut. Raven felt a mental imperative impressed on her mind. _Help me! This is your fault!_

Forcing herself to rise, Raven took a couple shaky steps towards the dragon. Angrily, she fought down the panic that threatened to shut her down again, and felt her powers respond. She motioned for Robin and Beast Boy to stand back, and laid her hand on the dragon's forehead. Sharrakkor glared at her helplessly as she summoned the mindview that would let her into his mind.

She had intended to simply erase all activity in the dragon's mind, turning him into a vegetable, but she found herself in the same acropolis as before. However, the field surrounding it was now a raging sea of fire, and the sky was black with ash. She pushed through the inferno towards the statues and the door. The young man from before was not where she had left him on the floor; he was straining to push the door shut on a scaled forearm that protruded through. When he saw Raven, he called to her. "Help me seal him away again, or your world is doomed. This is the last chance!"

Raven joined him at the door and together they forced it closed. With her aura, Raven picked up the large crossbeam and slid it through the notches. The young man looked at her with mute gratitude, but before she could speak to him, the whole mindscape began to fracture and melt. Without hesitating, she leaped 'backwards' out of his mind and into her own body. She found herself being dragged by Beast Boy away from a towering pillar of swirling fire where Sharrakkor had lain.

The fire burned for ten seconds, and was suddenly snuffed out like a match. In the center stood the young man from before. He was naked and obviously heavily wounded. One eye was missing and blood streamed from the socket, and where his left arm had been was a smaller version of Sharrakkor's left arm. It was this arm he raised as he tried to run towards the Titans. He only got a few steps, however, before he collapsed facedown on the ground and didn't move.

Starfire arrived, carrying a refurbished Cyborg. The latter jumped from ten feet up, and spun in a circle when he landed. "Where's he at, I want another shot at him," Cyborg said, then caught sight of the naked man on the ground. "Aw, dammit, I missed the whole end of the fight?!" He kicked the young man in the ribs.

Raven felt for the young man's mind, but it and the dragon's were trapped in the void of unconsciousness. She breathed a sigh of relief. "It's over." She said simply.

"No, it's not," Robin replied. "Unless _you_ have any idea what the hell just happened here, I think this is only the beginning."

There was the sound of a muffled impact. Everyone turned to look at Cyborg, who had delivered another kick to the unconscious figure. "What?" he said. "Dude totally moved."


	5. Chapter 4: Die Prophezeiung

Chapter 4: Die Prophezeiung

Cyborg stood over the fallen man. He hadn't reacted at all with the kick Cyborg had put into his ribs. Either he was really out of it, or _really_ committed to the illusion. When robin turned back to check on the others again, Cyborg kicked the prone form again. _One hell of a method actor,_ he thought.

"So," Beast Boy started, "Not that I want to be _that_ guy. You know, the one who asks the obvious question like 'Do you think the psycho killer's dead?' I mean, I like a good horror movie, but-"

"Beast Boy!" Robin snapped. "Get to the point."

"Who was the scary dragon dude?" He was answered with various blank looks and noncommittal noises.

"**Perhaps I can clarify," **the voice rolled across the beach like fog. It had no apparent source, and they spent a moment trying in vain to find one. Then, between one moment and the next, a tall man was there, standing on a rock between the Titans and the tower. Tall didn't begin to describe it. He must have been ten feet tall if he was an inch. His hair was pure white, and his skin wasn't much more colored. His sunken eyes were black and deep, seeming to hold stars within them. He wore a plain white robe that flowed to the ground. It didn't _end_ so much as it faded towards its hem, becoming transparent before vanishing altogether. He wore an emerald pendant around his neck, and a brown pouch at his side, but these were the only splashes of color on him.

Beast boy turned away from the newcomer and hitched a thumb over his shoulder at him. "Anyone know who the albino is?"

"Beast Boy. Shut. Up," Raven said through clenched teeth. She looked at Starfire. "What do you see, Star?"

"He looks like-" she rattled off a string of syllables that the others barely heard, much less understood. "That is the name my people give to the god of nightmares."

"**That is one of my names," **the stranger nodded to her. **"I am Dream of the Endless, Lord of Dream and Nightmare. And the man you have…. Finished? …. Abusing," **he cast an inscrutable look at Cyborg, who was in the middle of drawing back for a third kick. Cyborg grinned sheepishly and lowered his foot. Dream continued, **"-is my s-"**

"I am _not_ your servant!" The prone man snarled. He struggled to his feet. "My name is…." He appeared to catch himself. He held up his left arm, which was still covered in scales, though skin was beginning to grow from his shoulder, covering the draconic arm. He wiggled the claws at the Titans. "You may call me Talon, I suppose. Good a name as any."

"**If I may continue?" **the Dream Lord said in a disapproving tone. **"Or-….Talon is my agent in the mortal realms, when I cannot be seen to interfere directly."**

"So you sent him to attack my team?" Robin asked angrily, sweeping his arm to indicate the others. "God or no god, nobody takes potshots at my friends and gets off scot free."

Talon snorted. "Your 'team' is five scared children swimming out of their depth."

"**And yet they managed to break you **_**and **_**Sharrakkor," **Dream said, apparently having abandoned any hope of finishing his speech for the nonce.

"Aye, only because I wasn't fighting seriously!" Talon snarled. He flexed his clawed hand, and half-turned back to the Titans. "Shall we see how a fight would-" He was cut off by a blow from Starfire that knocked him sideways several feet in the air. He surged back to his feet, his jaw hanging crooked and broken. "I Gill yo-"

He got no further, because Starfire closed the distance and had him by the throat before he could react. She kissed him hard on the mouth, splitting his lips open from the sheer force, held it for a second, then pulled back, her mouth bloody. "If you raise your hand against my friends again, we _will_ see how such a battle would end, and it would not be good for you. "

She threw him roughly to the ground and walked back to where the others stood, sporting identical looks of shock. Even the dream king looked impressed, if only slightly. Beast Boy tapped her on the shoulder. "Uhh, Star, you've got some blood on your-eep!" he hunkered down and hid behind Cyborg at the glare she gave him.

Talon held a hand to his jaw for a moment, and when he removed it, his jaw hung normally. "Fine," he admitted grudgingly, "They beat me. But that still doesn't mean they're the ones. There's not enough of them, in any case."

"Stop! Both of you." Robin demanded. "I don't care who you are. I want answers. Now. Why did jackass here attack us?"

"But before that," Beast Boy interrupted, garnering dirty looks from nearly everyone. He gestured at Talon, who was still naked. "Could this guy please put some pants on? It's hard to take this seriously while we have to look at his gizmo."

Talon made a gesture at Beast Boy which certainly did _not_ mean 'long days and pleasant nights', but he closed his eyes in concentration, and a simple white toga faded into being on his frame. "There. Clothes. Better?" he asked.

"Well," Beast Boy said, with an innocent look, "I should hope so. Judging by before, it must be cold out in the buff." Cyborg had to choke back a guffaw at this, and even Robin had to force himself not to grin. On the rare occasions that Beast Boy was fed a straight line, he could be quite funny. Talon apparently didn't think so, as he bit his thumb and spat in the dust at Beast Boy's feet.

"**I suppose it is not unreasonable to enlighten you," **Dream said, **"Several days ago, ** **a prophecy was related in my realm. It spoke of a great darkness that would eclipse all of creation, and of seven that could prevent it. The signs pointed here, to this world, out of all the cosmos."**

"Only if interpreted that way!" Talon exploded. "You are too set on mankind to provide every answer, just because of your-"

"**Silence." **Dream spoke that one word, but it carried the threat and force of a thunderbolt. Reluctantly, glaring, Talon subsided.

"**Talon came to the conclusion that the five of you were not 'worthy' of being those referenced. He endeavored to prove this by combat, which is why you were attacked this evening. Though it was not at my behest, I must admit that your performance was.. satisfactory."**

"'Satisfactory'? " Robin seethed "This was all some kind of fucked-up _test?" _ He gestured at the still-smoking battlefield. "We could have died, and all you have to say is 'satisfactory?' Fuck. You."

"Oh, I hardly think you could have died," Talon waved his hand, now fully human again, dismissively. "At least, not if you had fought intelligently. Letting little miss sunshine set a fully-grown dragon loose wasn't too bright, now, was it? As it was, I just ambushed you and tied you up while the rest of you fools were distracted by the dust storm. "

"And then who kicked whose scaly ass again?" Cyborg asked. "I'm just a little unclear on that point."

"You knocked out power for the entire city," Talon sneered. "Don't go patting yourself on the back until you check out the hospitals and see how many died when their life support went haywire, _hero._" He spat this last word like a curse.

"You wanna dance, tough guy?" Cyborg yelled, bringing out his arm cannon, "Cause I'll jam this so far up your-"

"**Enough!" **Dream thundered. The sky itself darkened slightly. **"Talon, you are correct in one regard. As they are now, they are not strong enough, or even complete." **

Talon smiled. "Then, my lord, let us make all haste to-"

"**Therefore," **Dream said, talking over him, **"you will remain here. Train them until they meet your high standards for prophesized warriors." **He held up a hand to quell the six simultaneous objections they all raised. **"Sir Robin, as leader of your army, such as it is, I deliver this man in his defeat for you to use as a bondsman. House him, feed him, use him as you see fit."**

Robin gazed at Dream, then flicked his hand dismissively at Talon. "We don't want him. You keep him."

"**That was not a request. He **_**will**_ **remain here."**

Raven, who had been silent for the longest time, finally spoke. "Do what he says, Robin. The Seven aren't big on being second-guessed."

Talon narrowed his eyes and looked at Dream. "You're not my father. You can't kill me, you can't do anything worse than what's happened to me already. I refuse to stay in this backwater suburb." He walked to where his sword had fallen during the battle, a scabbard materializing over his shoulder. He grasped the hilt and attempted to pull it from the ground. The sword refused to budge. He strained against it, but gave up, flustered.

Beast Boy, who was closest, tugged on the sword experimentally. It slid out of the ground so quickly and easily that he nearly overbalanced. Talon gazed at him intently for several seconds, then turned back to Dream. "I changed my mind. I could use a vacation. Now get your gloomy ass gone."

Dream's countenance darkened further, but before he could chastise Talon, Raven addressed him. "Lord Shaper, on behalf of my leader, we accept your Paladin into our midst, until such time as you require his services again."

"Raven," Robin hissed into her ear. "I'm the leader here. What do you think you're doing?"

"You don't know what you're in the middle of, Robin. It's said that Death is kinder than him. And seeing what a sociopath his _underling_ is, do you really want to take a chance?"

Robin sighed. She was right. "Fine, we accept."

Dream nodded. **"Then I shall leave you to become better acquainted."** Before the last syllable had faded from the air, he was gone.

For a few wordless moments, the six who remained stood in wordless silence. Robin was the first to break it. "Well, I suppose we better set you up with a room, then." His voice was tense with forced civility. Whoever their forced boarder was, he was going to be getting jack shit as far as Robin was concerned.

"No need," Talon said. "I brought my own. I will need a door though." This took a moment to percolate, then Robin nodded.

"Cyborg, get the man a door."

Cyborg did not look pleased, but walked off with Talon in tow, muttering half-heard, anatomically unlikely places where Talon might receive said door.

"Now that he's out of here," Robin said, turning to Raven, "what was that about death and the skinny guy? I don't like getting preempted like that."

Raven lowered her eyes. "Sorry, Robin, but I recognized the tall one from the book that Melchior -" she grimaced, as if the name itself was painful. "-that Melchior is imprisoned in. His name is Dream, and he's one of the Endless." She waved a hand dismissively at Robin's blank look. "Short version, they're gods to other gods."

"Give me the long version," Robin said. "I think it'd be a good idea to know all we can about this guy and who's pulling his strings."

Beast Boy followed Starfire into the tower gymnasium. She wasn't talking, and something inside Beast Boy told him it would be a mistake to disturb her train of thought. She went to the heavy punching bag, and with a cry of anger, drove her fist straight through it. She yelled again and ripped the bag from the ceiling, tore it in half, and flung the two halves through the wall out into the bay. Her breath started to hitch as she stood in the cloud of settling sand. Beast Boy groaned inwardly. He had to say _something. _Realizing he still had the sword from the beach in his hand, he set it down on a rack of weights.

"Uh, Star, not to paint a target on my forehead, but are you okay? You seem a little messed up."

She whirled, startled at the sound, and a starbolt passed so close over his head he could smell his hair smoldering. He collapsed to the ground in a heap. "Oh no! Beast Boy," Star said. "I am sorry, I am such a glorbsnart, please do not be dead!" she picked up his trembling form and set him on his feet.

"I'm… I'm okay." Beast boy said, patting himself down to verify it. "So, I guess that's a 'no' to you being okay?"

"I am so angry at the Talon. It used us, tricked us." She sat down on a weight bench. "It made me think Robin was dead!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes.

"You guys are pretty close, huh?" Beast Boy said. Apparently it was the wrong thing, because the dam broke and tears began to trickle down Star's cheeks.

"No," She said. "I have often wished, but to become closer to Robin would strain the team. Things would change."

"But what about Japan?" Beast Boy asked.

"We never spoke of it again. I was afraid of what it might mean, and I believe Robin was merely excited for having defeated the Brushogun." She sobbed, and Beast Boy offered her a towel, the closest thing to a handkerchief near at hand.

"Well, at least everyone got a few good licks in on him by the end," Beast Boy said. "You can't tell me you didn't enjoy Robin breaking his pole on the guy's face."

"And then the Talon had the _greblacks_ to mock Robin's leader skills!" Starfire fumed.

Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah, that was pretty dickish. Was that what the whole 'kiss of death' thing you had going on was about?"

Starfire sniffed. "Kiss of.. Oh, no, that is how Tamaranians can acquire new languages. He knew so many." She gave a small smile "and it was probably painful for the Talon. I am afraid I may have misjudged my strength."

"Well, if you feel the need to 'misjudge your strength' the next time you see him, I'll turn a blind eye," Beast Boy said. "You gonna be okay?"

Starfire hugged him. "I will be fine, thank you. Please, tell the others nothing of this."

Beast Boy grinned wickedly, and morphed into a parrot. "Squawk! Starfire loves Robin! I'm gonna tell!" Starfire giggled and swatted lightly at him in mock outrage as he flew around the room.

Laughing fit to burst, Beast Boy landed near the door and morphed back to normal. "Don't worry, Star. My lips are sealed." He picked up the sword, "But I've got to go give this back to him. Or misjudge my aim with it. You know how clumsy I am."

"Very well, Beast Boy, I shall see you at dinner, then." Beast Boy grinned at her and jogged down the hallway.

He hadn't gone far when he heard a commotion from a few rooms away. Talon and Cyborg were yelling at each other. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah and sped through the halls to see what was happening.

"I don't care if it's not what you wanted, dumbass!" Cyborg snarled, his forehead pressed against Talon's as they each tried to make the other back down. "I'm in charge of the supplies here, and you said 'a door'. That means it's _my_ job to decide what door you get! If you don't like it, sleep on the roof for all I care!"

Beast Boy skidded to a halt in a chaos of claws on the hard floor, and took in the scene. The two guys were obviously about to come to blows over the matter, apparently the door Cyborg supplied, which was laying in two pieces on the far side of the room, was not only pink with purple flowers painted on it, which he figured Talon should have seen coming, but was from one of the small cabinets in Starfire's room. It must have been replaced and stockpiled in the garage against some hypothetical future need. Beast Boy wondered whether he should intervene, or, upon further reflection, if he had time to make it to the kitchen and back with popcorn by the time the punches started flying.

"YOU _INSUFFERABLE _MASS OF TIN, BEFORE THE GODS-"

"WHAT? MISTER MAGIC MAN CAN'T CONJURE UP A CAN OF PAINT?" Cyborg taunted.

"A handful of years ago, you would be _begging_ to repaint whatever I told you to." Talon snarled at him. Cyborg's eyes widened in shock, and his voice got very quiet. Beast Boy had seen hardened killers back down when Cyborg got like that, but this new guy was either too pissed to sense the danger, or thought he could take Cyborg in any case.

"You get one chance to take that back, jackass," Cyborg said slowly. "And then I'm going to fuck you up so bad your precious _gods_ won't be able to put you back together."

Talon opened his mouth to reply, and judging by the expression on his face, it wasn't going to be 'cry pardon', but before the situation could escalate any further, a birdarang flashed between them, and Robin followed it into the room as they reflexively stepped back.

"What the hell are you two doing?" he asked angrily. "I told _you_" he pointed at Cyborg "to get the new guy a room. Go clear out one of the storage rooms on the dorm level. Preferably _without_ killing anyone. NOW!" He snapped, when Cyborg started to voice a complaint. "And _you!" _he pointed at Talon. "My quarters." He turned on his heel, but Talon made no move to follow him. "That's an order. " Robin said almost casually. The effect on Talon was surprising. He lurched forward, leading with his neck, as if Robin had yanked on a leash. Grudgingly, Talon was forced to stumble down the corridor after Robin, who never slowed quite enough for Talon to recover.

Robin stalked into the main vault, where all of the Titans' various trophies and impounded weapons were stored. Talon, fighting the impulse to follow , nevertheless entered the room shortly thereafter. Robin closed and locked the door from the terminal. They glared at each other in silence for a moment, each gauging the other. Finally, Robin spoke. "What the hell do you think you were doing out there? Five minutes, and you already got yourself killed. Some warrior."

"What conflict were you looking at?" Talon asked, "The day I cannot defeat some half-assed robot, I will hang up my sword and become a poet!"

Robin pointed out a few of the trophies on the wall. "Cardiac. Overload. Brushogun. Trigon." He said, indicating the bit of memorabilia in question for each name. "Cyborg stood his own against them and more and didn't come up short."

"And you think my body count is smaller than his?" Talon smirked

"No. I'm saying that if it came down to Cyborg versus some half-assed wet dream, I'd put my money on him. "

Talon waved his hand dismissively. "No doubt you would merely order me to stand and die. I suppose Sunshine taught you that trick?"

"Cry me a river. I didn't ask for you to be on this team. I can't fathom why Raven advised me to let you in. Perhaps you could enlighten me? You seemed to have an abrupt change of heart, anyway."

Talon shrugged and gestured to the empty scabbard at his side. "The green boy pulled the sword out of the ground. That hasn't happened in a _very_ long time. I decided to stay until I can discover what it means for him and for the world. And I will stay, will you or nil you. Your little 'leader's orders' loophole only works the once unless you know the subject's name. I presume Sunshine explained that? And I'm sorry to say, 'Talon' isn't it." He smiled nastily at Robin.

Robin smirked. "Fine. I order you to stab yourself in the foot." Mute with surprise, Talon immediately pulled a knife from his boot and stabbed it through his left foot. He looked up at Robin with dawning horror.

"I studied under the goddamn Batman, you arrogant fuck." Robin spat. "You might think you're smarter than everyone else, but believe me," He stepped forward and hauled Talon up by the front of his shirt. "I will always be two steps ahead of you. I know three different ways to kill things like you permanently, and the next time you pull a stunt like that with Cyborg or any of my team, I will use them all." He threw Talon back to the ground, garnering a cry of pain when the knife shifted. "Get out of my sight and go apologize to Cyborg." He said coldly and turned away. "That's an order, _patricide." _

Wordlessley, with a touch of fear in his eyes, talon wrenched the blade out and replaced it in his ankle sheath. "I seem to have underestimated you, Robin," he said. "But if you keep my secrets, I will fight for you." He turned and walked out the door. It slid shut behind him, and the sound of Talon's footsteps receded down the hallway, until a klaxon blared and there was the unmistakable sound of the security turrets firing.

Robin activated his comm. "Uhh, Cyborg?"

Cyborg's voice, tinny over the communicator, came through."Uh oh, did I forget to update the IFF before turning on the security? Bad mass of tin! No cookie._" _Robin cut off the com to the sound of raucous laughter.


	6. Chapter 5: Overture

"You're not keeping your hands up!" Talon snapped at Beast Boy, as he landed another punch on the green boy's chin. "If you just wanted me to hurt you, you should have simply said so!"

Beast Boy fell back and brought a glove up to his face. "I didn't ask for anything, you psycho! You just barged in and said 'fight me'!" He got to his feet unsteadily, and wobbled to the side of the ring.

"Well, I had assumed you would fight back. There's no point in pummeling you if you're not going to hit back."

"Why the hell do you want to fight _me _so bad, anyway? Cyborg or Robin might actually stand a chance at this."

"You have my sword. I want it back."

"Freaking take it, man, I don't want it bad enough to go through all this!" He climbed over the ropes and staggered to a bench on one wall. Talon followed him, taking off his gloves as he did.

"I'm sorry, but I do in fact have to defeat you in combat to reclaim it. The same way you took it from me."

"So what you're saying," Robin interrupted, walking over, "is that right now, it's Beast Boy's, fair and square, and you think he should throw a fight so you can have your toy back. Don't you think you're acting like a spoiled brat? "

"That is not my intention. And it is no mere toy that the green one holds." he glanced over at Beast Boy, who realized with shock that the sword _was _in his hand, even though he had left it in his room earlier that morning. He dropped it in shock, before sheepishly picking it back up.

"Yeah, that's definitely not normal sword-y stuff there." Beast Boy said. "What's with this thing? Is it magic or something?"

Talon gave a dry smile. "Think about how you picked it up. I feel rather confident that _that_ legend has survived the passage of years."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "No…." He looked at the sword again, turned it over in his hands. "This is E-" He was cut off as Talon clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't." he said. Removing his hand, he stepped back. "Names like that have power. Don't speak them unless absolutely necessary." He glared at Robin, who shrugged.

"I don't get it," Beast Boy said. "How is saying its name bad?"

"What is your name?" Talon asked.

"Beast Boy."

"No, your actual _name._"

"…."Beast Boy mumbled something. Talon raised an eyebrow and made a twirling gesture with his finger. _Hurry up_, it seemed to mean. He groaned and said it again. "Garfield. Garfield Logan." Cyborg snickered.

"There, you see, with that information, were I to wish you harm, I could find your family and use them against you. With the fact that you gave it to me yourself, I could control your every action, should I wish. I do not wish that," He said reassuringly, as Gar paled a bit, "nor do I even have any confidence in my ability to do so. But that is what I meant by risk. Anyone with sufficient mental strength, knowing the name of the blade you carry, could turn it to their own purposes. And that is why, though I apologize _most_ sincerely, I must do this."

Before Beast Boy could react, Talon stepped forward again and punched him hard in the stomach. Beast Boy gasped and held his stomach with both hands, dropping the sword. Talon caught it before it fell and returned it to a sheath he wore at his hip. When the sword was stowed, both it and the scabbard vanished.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Robin yelled, grabbing Talon by the collar. "I don't know where you've been, but if you want to be part of this team, don't you even _think _about crap like that!"

"Your statement assumes that I do in fact _want_ to be part of this 'team,'" the last word was absolutely dripping with disdain.

"That….. wasn't fair," gasped Beast Boy. "Give me… another chance…"

"And pray tell, why?" Talon countered. "You can barely stand. Not that I _mind_ hurting you more, but I have no stake in it. "

Beast boy looked at Robin. Standing straight with some slight effort, he asked, "Do you trust me?" Robin nodded. "Then back me up on this. " He returned his attention back to Talon. "If I win, you give the sword back, and teach me to use it."

"And when I instead leave you a whimpering heap of fur?"

"If you beat me, we'll _all_ tell you our names."

"I don't think that's enough," Raven said. Beast Boy looked around in surprise. Everyone had abandoned their usual routines to watch what was going on. "You attacked us without warning or reason, and in Beast Boy's case, twice. If he wins, you also answer three questions."

"I like that arrangement," Robin said, with a small smile. "I _strongly suggest_ that you accept those terms."

Talon's eye twitched and he threw up his hands in exasperation. "Very well. I will finish breaking him. Remember, Garfield, you brought this on yourself." He stalked to a wide-open stretch of floor, and removed his shirt. "Come on, then. I don't want to prolong this any more than I have to."

Beast Boy laughed. "What's with that, dude? Are you trying to intimidate me with your 'manly' physique? Or are you just trying to put someone's eye out with the cold?"

Talon smirked. "You are lucky I am still wearing pants. Where I come from, we would be fighting in the nude. That is how real warriors showed their courage, but your culture seems to be… uncomfortable with itself."

"Bunch a' sweaty naked dudes wrestling with each other? I guess the way you turned out kind of makes sense," Cyborg called. The others laughed, as Talon and Beast Boy began to cautiously circle each other.

Beast Boy made the first move, leaping at Talon and morphing into a tiger in midair. Talon easily dodged, but as Beast Boy sailed past, he changed into a kangaroo and kicked Talon hard in the ribs. There was a muffled snap as at least one broke, and Talon yelled in pain. He staggered to one knee as Beast Boy charged at him again, this time as a wolf. Talon drew back a leg as if to kick, but again, Beast Boy changed, this time back to his human shape, and launched a punch. He had the satisfaction of feeling Talon's lip split under his knuckles, but then there was pain as Talon grabbed his wrist in an iron grip and swung him up into the air by it, slamming him into the ground. White-hot agony erupted in his shoulder as something gave way.

Beast Boy changed into a horse, intending to trample Talon, who was still holding his ribs and breathing raggedly, but his foreleg couldn't support his weight and he went down hard on his side with a cry.

"You can do it Beast Boy! Kick his ass!" the rest of the team was cheering from the sidelines, but he couldn't hear them.

Talon limped slowly over to where Beast Boy was lying. "You did very well, in your condition," he wheezed. "But you were in no shape-" He was cut off with a hard kick from Beast Boy's strong back legs. The other Titans winced, as his head visibly deformed under the blow. His eyes rolled back and he sank to his knees, blood running from a gash across his forehead. For a brief moment, it looked like he would fall, but at the last moment, his eyes snapped back into focus and he glared at Beast Boy.

Despite their pain, both of them managed to regain their feet. Beast Boy morphed into a raptor and slashed at Talon with a hind claw. With a curse and a flourish, Talon drew the sword from his side and sliced the claw off, and a chunk of foot along with it. Beast Boy fell backwards, screaming, and as one, the four titans on the sidelines surged forward to take down Talon before he could swing the sword again.

But, as they began to move, Talon spun and held an outstretched palm at them, and began to chant in a foreign tongue. None of them could understand what was said, but his voice, or perhaps the words he spoke, held them in place like iron chains. Talon turned back to his opponent, and, still chanting, raised the sword for the killing blow.

Beast Boy's mind whirled. He fought down the panic as Talon approached. One arm and one leg useless, he couldn't move except by crawling, and he couldn't think of a single morph that would stand a chance in this condition. He felt tears welling up, and hated himself for it. He looked around the room in a panic. There _had _to be something he could do. He looked at Talon again, only a few steps away, and a ridiculous, impossible thought occurred to him. He decided to bet everything on one last desperate gamble. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on making his body change.

Robin tried desperately to speak, but the spell that Talon was chanting wouldn't let him move his mouth. _If I can only break free a bit, I can make him stop._ He thought wildly. He could just barely move his fingers. _….That gives me an idea,_ he thought, and focused on making his hand move towards the pouch of flashbangs on his belt. Even if he couldn't throw them, setting them all off at once would probably break Talon's concentration. _Please_, he prayed silently_, don't let me fail now._

Suddenly, the invisible bonds holding them were gone. They didn't weaken, they just ceased. Robin and Cyborg fell to the floor and had to scramble back up, while Star and Raven shot off in two different directions. It took a moment before they realized what was different, but when they did, they became very still.

Talon stood slackjawed, and above him towered a massive green dragon. Beast Boy's gambit had paid off.

Beast Boy bellowed, and the room vibrated sympathetically. He drew in a deep breath, and Raven rushed to put up a shield and get everyone behind it. With another bellow, beast boy filled the room with green fire. He kept up the barrage as long as he could, warping the floor and walls and melting most of the equipment, leaving what little remained glowing like embers. In the center of it all when the flames died down was Talon, holding the sword and its scabbard in his hands, crossed as if it could shield him.

The flames died into nothing, having nothing flammable left to feed on, and raven cautiously opened the dome she had constructed. Talon was still standing, but badly burned. His skin was blackened and cracked, but even as they watched, it began to heal.

Wobbling, Beast Boy looked down at him. _Like I'm going to give him a chance to recover,_ he thought. He began to fall, and aimed himself at Talon, who was still too focused on healing his wounds to notice. Beast Boy grinned inwardly. _He'll notice _this.

Robin tried not to take satisfaction in watching two tons of dragon land on Talon's head, but it was hard. Starfire gasped and moved to help, but Robin held up a hand. Beast Boy began to shrink back to normal, and rolled onto his back, breathing hard and wincing as his injured shoulder hit the ground.

"Did…I win?" He asked. He couldn't even turn his head to look, but the others could see Talon's crushed form. Both legs were snapped, and the left leg had a shard of bone sticking out of the calf. Despite the injuries, though, he was still conscious, because he groaned and tried to sit up. He seemed to lack the strength, though, because he fell back and didn't move again.

"Yeah, you win, BB," Cyborg said. "But I don't know what kind of shape numbnuts here will be in for answering questions. "

"Eh, hopefully he'll …." Beast Boy slurred the words, fighting a losing battle against unconsciousness. "….wake up when I…." That was as far as he got before the blackness overcame him.

* * *

Consciousness came some time later with a blinding flash. He screwed his eyes up against the intrusion, which, after a careful peek, turned out to be nothing more than the fluorescent lights in the sickbay. He tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness overtook him and he flopped back down. He must have made a sound at that, because Raven's face came into his field of vision as she stood next to his bed.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" she asked, with a note of worry in her voice. He wasn't sure how to take that. On the one hand, it was nice to know she cared. On the other, that worry might mean that he was more messed up than he thought. Hoping for the former, he grinned weakly up at her.

"Eight feet tall and fartin' thunderbolts," he croaked. Her look of worry was replaced with annoyance. Good. He couldn't be too badly injured if she was thinking about smacking him. "My throat's killing me and I can't sit up."

"Well if it's your throat and your ass giving you trouble, you need to quit the nightclubs!" Cyborg jeered, walking into the room. Beast Boy chuckled in spite of himself. "Glad you're up, BB it's been too damn quiet here without your crazy ass."

"How long was I out?"

"'Bout a day and a half. Yo, Raven, I'll take over, go get some sleep." She nodded wearily, and for the first time, BB noticed the bags under her eyes and the way she was carrying herself. She looked about ready to drop. When the door closed behind her, he turned back to Cyborg.

"How long was she in here?"

"Again, 'bout a day and a half. Supposedly because Talon might wake up pissed off again and need to be shut down, but I don't buy it. Bird-girl might not admit it, but she was worried about your fuzzy ass."

"You keep talking about my ass, I might have to-" He broke off, coughing hard. Cyborg handed him a cold soda. Beast Boy drank greedily, downing the can in a single breath. When it was finished, he weakly crushed it in his hand and laid back on the pillow, gasping but feeling much better. "Oh my god, I needed that." He tried to sit up again, and was much less dizzy. Propping himself up on his elbows, he backed against the head of the bed to sit upright. "What about Talon?"

"He's in a bit worse shape than you. Mostly because you landed on his head. That was goddamn awesome, by the way. How'd you turn into a dragon? Oh-" he held up a hand to stop Beast Boy from asking again. "He's two beds over, still out of it. There was a pool going as to who would wake up first and when. _After _we made sure you both would," he hastily added.

"You win?"

"Of course. I had a cold soda in my hand. You think I just carried it in here for the exercise?"

"Well I _did_ slag the room. Speaking of… Did Robin and Star make it out okay?"

"Yeah, everybody's fine. Well, except for the human pancake."

"Good." He leaned back against the wall. "I gotta get out of here. I need a shower and I have to piss like a racehorse." He got to his feet, swayed a little but got it under control, and staggered to the door, Cyborg following him closely, just in case. "Hell, I might have to get a couple extra legs out and piss _as_ a racehorse."

The door slid open and they almost ran into Robin and Starfire. The latter immediately squealed and grabbed Beast Boy in a bear hug. He could feel his ribs creaking. "Star.." he croaked. "Can't… breathe!" She blushed and set him down.

"Glad to see you back on your feet, Beast Boy," Robin said with a nod. "I hoped that was why Raven was out in the living room. You sure you're okay?"

"Nothing a hot bath and a big dinner won't fix, man."

"Oh, I shall prepare such a feast as you have never _dreamed_ of!" Starfire exclaimed. "A sardine cake with peanut butter soup and mustard pudding!" Beast Boy visibly paled.

"Whose side are you on, Star?" Cyborg laughed. "The man almost died once this week, and you're already trying to finish the job?" Starfire looked downcast at this.

Robin laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right Star. Why don't we just get a dozen pizzas or so?"

"A dozen? What are the rest of you guys gonna eat?" Beast Boy laughed. He was feeling better by the minute.

"_You_, if you try to hog all the pie!"

Everybody laughed as they went their separate ways. Starfire took off for the mainland and pizza. Beast Boy and Cyborg passed through the living room, and Beast Boy saw something. He waved for Cyborg to go ahead without him, and he walked to the couch, where Raven had fallen asleep sitting up, her head hung over the back of the couch. Gingerly, he picked her up and laid her out along the couch's length so she'd be more comfortable. As he stood back up, her eyes fluttered open and focused blearily on him. "Hey," She said softly.

"I heard you were worried about me," he said with a goofy grin.

"Hardly. You're too stubborn to die."

"You were worried. Big tough Raven's got a soft spot."

"You want to end up back in that bed tonight?"

"All right, all right," he conceded. Then, on impulse, he hugged her. "Thanks anyway."

"Get off me," she said grumpily, but made no move to push him away. "You probably have fleas or something."

He let go of her and let her lay back down. "Star's gone for pizza, so don't sleep too long." She nodded and was almost immediately asleep again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Robin was still in the sickbay. He was standing next to Talon's bed, where the white-haired youth was still laying motionless. "Wake up," he said. "I'm betting you can hear me." There was no response. He prodded Talon in the chest to no avail. He sighed. "Either answer me, or I'm putting _Phil Collins' Greatest Hits _on continuous play in here." Still no reaction. Robin sighed and entered a few commands on the computer. Presently, music began to play through bedside speakers. Robin settled down to wait.

It took nearly a minute before Talon stirred. "To think people tell me that _I_ am cruel. What the hell, hero?"

"My sentiments exactly. What the hell were you doing, trying to kill Beast Boy like that?"

"Your man started it."

"That's not the point! You've been here two days." He held up fingers for emphasis. "TWO. DAYS. And in that time, you've instigated three major altercations! I don't want you here any more than you want to _be_ here, but why the hell can't you just accept it and get along?"

Talon opened his mouth to reply, shut it again, and thought for a moment before saying "You might be right. I.. apologize. I was out of line." Robin raised an eyebrow. This wasn't what he had expected.

"What, no 'you are a bunch of incompetents' or 'I could break you all with a gesture'?"

"I think.." Talon winced as he sat up, "…that that issue has been well settled by now. I shall work with you and yours henceforth." He got out of the bed and looked down at the hospital gown he was wearing. "Where are my clothes?" he asked peevishly. Robin started.

"Uh, Beast Boy kind of incinerated them. Hang on-" Robin said, trying to head Talon off, but it wasn't enough.

"Wonderful. I _just_ made those," Talon sighed, wrapping a towel around his waist. "I suppose I will have to get something older out of my trunk. I certainly do not have the energy to make anything right now."

"Forget the clothes, how in the blue hell are you able to stand up? Two days ago, you had bones sticking out of your legs!"

Talon shrugged. "I heal quickly."

"There's 'fast' and then there's… _this!_ What does it take to kill you?"

"Rather more than you're capable of, I'm afraid," Talon said sympathetically. It wasn't a taunt or an insult, just a statement of fact, maybe of regret.

"What _are_ you?" Robin asked, enunciating each word so Talon would get the point.

"Don't you know?" Talon waved his hand dismissively. "You already seem familiar with my story."

"Only up until you died."

"A pity. The interesting part is all after that event." Talon winked at him. "But that was long ago and far away, and besides, the wench is dead." He walked out of the room, leaving Robin glaring at his back.

* * *

Raven awoke a few hours later, when Starfire arrived with the pizzas. _I guess we're lucky the city is so grateful,_ she thought, eyeing the huge stack of pizza boxes. _If they decided to start charging us for these again…_ She smiled to herself, remembering a time when Robin tried to charge a month's pizza to Wayne Enterprises. Batman had _not_ been amused. She sat up and stretched. "Have any trouble, Star?"

"None, friend Raven," Star chirped. "That man from the internet has not bothered me in weeks. I wonder why?"

Raven knew very well why. The man had started stalking Starfire soon after the team had been in a highly-televised fight with Plasmius. At first, he had been merely annoying, trying to get Star's attention, asking for autographs, but soon he had started hanging around the Tower and peeping through the windows. All very subtle, only Starfire noticed him, and confided in Raven. Raven trapped him in her mirror for a few days, before releasing him in the middle of nowhere, with directions to start walking away from jump city and not to turn around. _Not very 'heroic',_ she thought, _But he got off lighter than if Robin had found out._

"Hey, Raven," Robin said, coming into the room. She started guiltily. He had a knack for breaking inner monologues about him. "Why don't you go get the new guy for dinner. Try not to get trampled by the other two. They'll be coming at full gallop."

"Of course. Why would I mind?" she grumbled as she floated out of the room. "Just because he's an arrogant, pigheaded-" she was cut off as she dodged Cyborg and Beast Boy, who were charging down the hall like a freight train, each trying to be the first one to the pies.

She stopped in front of the door to Talon's room. Cyborg had apparently gotten the last word in their argument, because his 'room' was a broom closet at the end of the hall. She raised her hand to knock, then decided against it. Sliding the door open, she was momentarily at a loss. Instead of a small room cluttered with mops and junk, she was looking into a sitting room. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stood packed against each wall, save for a small door in each. A window directly across from her looked out over a field of flowers.

Raven stepped into the room. Apparently it wasn't an illusion, for she didn't hit any shelves. She turned to look at the doorway from this side. A glowing rune was carved in the center of each side of the door frame. She didn't recognize them, but made a mental note of their shape so that she could research it later. She peeked through the doorway on the right. The room beyond seemed to be a storage room or a laboratory, for it was packed floor-to-ceiling with instruments and flasks of strange liquids.

Turning around, she went through the other doorway. A hallway stretched forty feet or so, with three doors on either side, and one at the end. She did some quick calculations in her head. She had to be well outside the tower by now, maybe even above the ocean. Light was coming from the room at the end of the hall, so she ignored the other rooms for the time being and pushed the door open.

The room was obviously a bedroom; there was a hammock on one wall, and there was a crude wardrobe in the corner. In the center of the room there was a full-length mirror, and Talon stood nude in front of it, with his back to her. At least, she _thought_ it was Talon. He looked radically different than he had before. His hair was brown and shaggy, and his body was covered in puckered scars. A tattoo that appeared to have once been a black dragon dominated his back, though it had been warped and obscured by the scar tissue. The lower half of his right ear was missing, and on his right hand, he wore either two gold rings, or one ring with a double band. In the moment before he noticed her in the mirror, he wore a melancholy look on his face. His eyes met hers through the mirror, and he smiled.

"Comes some ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling?"

"Quoting Poe at me. _Nobody's_ thought of that one before," she answered with a roll of her eyes. "Bonus points for mangling it beyond reason. Robin says get your butt in gear, pizza's here."

"Ah, and who is the poet now?" Talon asked, turning to face her.

"Shut up and for the love of _god_ put some pants on."

"May I remind you that you are in my room. I would have thought that you, of all people, would knock first." Raven's eyes narrowed at this. "In any case, I shall be along shortly. I am busy recreating my Glamour. Recent traumas have required me to use the concentration usually reserved for maintaining it to heal my injuries instead."

"And in English, that would mean?"

Talon sighed. "Green boy hurt Talon. Talon trade face for functional spine. Now Talon make new face."

"Don't be a smartass. I know your real name too."

"Yes, I assumed it was you who told Robin. But you don't have the force of will to use it the way he can. Honestly, I never expected to find a single mortal who could."

"One would think you'd stop looking down on us 'mere mortals' after the _first_ ass-kicking. Or maybe you're just trying to act tough because inside, you're still the sappy pacifist you always were." She was rewarded with a reddening of Talon's face. He raised a fist, then thought better of it. He stepped forward, until he was right in her face.

His expression softened, became almost wistful. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps… I'm just like a wounded bird, waiting to be nursed back to health by true love." He lost the battle to keep a straight face and barked out laughter. "No, nothing so clichéd I'm afraid." He looked down. "Although, I am tempted." He gave her breast a squeeze. "But no. I'm married after all." He gestured to the rings on his finger. His cocky grin faltered a bit when he saw Raven's expression.

* * *

In the dining room, Beast Boy paused in the middle of his fifth slice of pizza. "Did you guys hear that?"

Cyborg looked up. "Hear what?"

"It sounded like someone screamed."

"Who did it sound like?"

"The new guy. You don't think he was dumb enough to screw with Raven, do you?"

"Nah. You're probably just hearing things."

Moments later, Talon came crashing through the ceiling. He was wearing what could best be described as a steel speedo. It looked like a metal plate from one of the walls had been bent around his more delicate areas in a decidedly _un_-delicate fashion. The others goggled at him as he hit the floor and bounced once.

It was Cyborg who got his voice back, first. "Jesus tap-dancing _Christ_, Raven!" he exclaimed, as she floated calmly down through the hole. "What did you _do_ to him?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Ask him, if his voice ever goes back to normal." She glided over to the counter and poured a cup of tea.

Beast Boy poked Talon with a foot. "You alive, dude? You look like you got run through a cuisinart."

"No, this is just what I look like," Talon groaned. He tried to sit up, but with a whimper, he laid back down. "Get rid of this, Raven," he forced himself not to whimper. "Please?"

"I offered pants." She took a sip. "You… declined."

"Raven.." Robin warned.

"Fine. Make yourself some clothes, and then you get them back."

Talon groaned and closed his eyes. A few moments later, a bulky bathrobe shimmered into existence over him. He looked askance at Raven, who offhandedly flicked her hand at him, and there was a loud _thunk_ from within the bathrobe. The other three males winced sympathetically. With a small moan of relief, he re-formed the bathrobe into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Looks like you've had a rough day, man," Beast Boy said. "Pull up a slice and let us feast."

"I don't…" Talon trailed off. He sniffed the air, and suddenly became alert. His eyes fixed on the slice of pizza that robin had halfway to his mouth. "Don't eat that!" he yelled. Leaping across the table, he grabbed Robin's wrist and ripped the slice out of it.

"What the hell, Talon?" Robin asked angrily.

"It's poisoned, I can smell it!" Talon snapped. "Nobody touch anything!" Everyone backed up, and Beast Boy paled visibly, remembering the five slices he'd already put away.

"Talon, there is nothing wrong with the pizza." Robin pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"This is my area of expertise. Look," he pulled the cheese and toppings off, and ran a finger through the sauce. "Tomato. You might as well have put nightshade on it."

Robin goggled. "You're _kidding."_

"Why would I joke about something this serious? Do you have any enemies…no, that is a stupid question. Do any of your enemies routinely employ poison?"

"Talon, they discovered that tomatoes aren't poisonous a _long_ time ago." Raven shook her head disbelievingly. "You really didn't know that?"

"I have been away for a while. "

"Three hundred years, give or take."

"A _long_ while." He took a cautious bite. "Hm. Not bad."

"I should hope not. That was my slice," Robin said.

Talon gestured at the mountain of pizzas. "And I see such a famine before us."

Beast Boy tapped Talon on the shoulder. "So where you come from, they thought tomatoes were poison?"

"Yes."

"Did they really throw them at bad actors on stage?" Talon nodded. "So in their minds, they were throwing balls of deadly poison at anybody who didn't do well."

"Indeed."

"Dude, awesome. And I thought internet geeks had anger issues." Talon gave him a blank look. "Never mind. After your time, apparently. Now, I think you owe me some answers. And a sword."

"Ask your questions; we will have to talk further on you inheriting this," Talon said, gesturing to the sword, which was inexplicably hanging over his right shoulder.

"Dude, you have to quit doing that," Beast Boy said. "It is way too distracting when you change every time I blink."

Talon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I will endeavor to comply. With master's permission, may I put my glamour back on?"

"Huh?"

Talon gave a pained sigh. "Lord, what fools these mortals be. The face I was wearing when we met. The one that does _not_ look like I just fought Heracles."

"Don't be a drama queen," Raven said from the other side of the room, where she finally had her tea poured. "Just do it so the rest of us can keep our dinner down."

Talon's skin rippled slightly as it returned to the everyman face. When it was finished, he picked up a slice of pizza. "Very well, Garfield, ask your questions."

"You're not going to be a jackass about it and count every question I accidentally ask, are you?" He winced as he realized what he had just said.

"Of course not. That was one, incidentally." Beast Boy looked crestfallen, but Talon waved a hand and chuckled. "Merely a jest, boy. You earned these, and I won't try and cheat you."

"Okay, first question. You and the tall guy were talking about a prophecy. What exactly did it say?"

"Very well. Several months ago, I am unsure how many; time flows differently in the Dreaming than here, I was consulting with my master when the Hecatae appeared to us. They spoke the following lines and then vanished.

_At the gates of the void, when the year too dies, _

_the destroyer awakens, dead stars in its eyes._

_The empress's justice rises only to fall_

_Hanged man in his chariot shall stand against all_

_The hierophant and the moon die friend and friend_

_Leaving only the hermit to see the world end._

_seven champions the light, else all shall burn._

_Seven save the light, but only one shall return._

"Lord Daniel consulted his elder brother while I searched the planes for a group that would stand a chance against this doom. I entered Hades and returned with a list of candidates. Heracles, Achilles, and others. My lord believed that you were the ones referenced. So I proposed a test. Which you passed."

"All right.." Beast Boy sat in silence regarding Talon for a long time. "Second question. Why does your real body look like… well you know what it looks like."

"I have been in the office of Paladin for nearly twenty years, and most of that time was spent in combat. I acquired the majority of my scars in those wars."

"Okay, but you re-grew an arm yesterday, and I didn't see any scars that matched that. What's up with that?" Before Talon could answer he amended "That is _not_ my last question, either."

Talon nodded. "There are rules and variables. For instance, wounds inflicted by mortals can be healed quite fast. Which is why when Mistress Blackbird deprived me of a limb, it was able to be reformed in a handful of minutes. They are minor matters to heal.

"Wounds inflicted by a semi-immortal, such as a dragon, take slightly longer. I required nearly two days to recover from the burns and such incurred in our fight. Again, they, with few exceptions, will heal completely and leave no trace.

"Any wound from an immortal, such as a nightmare, god, angel, one of the Endless, or a demon, however, will heal roughly as fast as one of you would from the same wound. Some of my scars come from conflict with such as them, and a few date from when I was mortal. As I said, it is complicated."

"Yeah, I can see that. Okay, question number three. Who are you, really?"

Talon sat up straight. "I am the Paladin, last line of defense between this world and an eternal waking nightmare. I have gazed into the void and come back unscathed. I have fought and killed monsters whose very visages would drive you mad. I have supped with Gods and stared down Satan himself. _That_ is who I am."

"Cute," Cyborg said, "but that's not what he meant and you know it. What was it you said about not trying to cheat him?"

Talon stood and walked to Beast Boy's seat. Leaning down, he whispered a name into his ear.

"Uhh, should that mean something to me?" Beast Boy asked.

"Inasmuch as it answers your question, yes. My biography would be less important and more tedious than I feel inclined to share tonight." He stood and gave a half bow. "I thank you for the food, but I shall retire for the night. "

"Hold it," Robin stopped Talon before he could leave. "About Excalibur."

"Ah, yes. I will speak to Garfield privately about that. Come see me in my quarters when you wish. And , Robin, I would ask you again, do not use its Name except when unavoidable." Turning on his heel, he left the room.

"That was straight-up weird," Cyborg said after a moment. "So spill, B-B, what did he tell you?"

"Yes, I also wish to know the name of the Talon."

"He told me his name was *" Beast Boy said. Blinking in confusion, he tried it again. "His name is *-" his mouth worked visibly, but he couldn't spit it out. "What the hell? Why can't I say it?"

"My guess? Some more of those rules he mentioned earlier." Raven sipped her tea and continued. "Maybe he's the only one who can say it out loud. Although.. he's well enough known to be in a few books, there's got to be something more to it." She shrugged. "Ask him when you go get the sword."

"You think I should? He seems pretty reluctant about it."

"That is all the more reason!" Starfire interjected. "If the Talon wants to hold onto it, it must be very precious. Retrieve it from him, and if he does not give it to you, open the can of the beaten donkey on him!"

"Uhh, it's a 'can of whoopass,' Star," Cyborg said. "But yeah, what she said. Mostly."

"He made the deal," Robin agreed. "You should hold him to it."

"Raven?" he asked after a moment. "What do you think?"

"I'd be cautious of him. I've met dreams and nightmares before, and very few are trustworthy. He's obviously keeping secrets, and he's probably dangerous. If you do go, get him to swear you will have safe conduct while in his rooms. There's something off in there, but you can force him to follow his own rules. You both know each other's names, so if you're stronger than him mentally, you can control his actions to a limited degree." She paused, took a drink and gazed at Beast Boy over the rim of her cup. "I wouldn't make that plan 'A', though."

"What, you don't think I'm smart?"

"Well, you had to ask, so it seems to answer itself. Anyway." She began to tick items off on her fingers. "Don't eat or drink anything he offers you; that would fit his style, I think." She considered. "Aside from that, you should be safe. See if you can trick him into telling you where the rooms he brought with him are actually located. And for God's sake, knock. There's a better chance he'll be dressed."

"Good point. I guess I'll go up later." He turned back to the cooling pizzas. "Until then, I bet I can out-eat you, Cy."

"You're on, hairball." They began wolfing down pizza as fast as they could, as the others looked on, horrorstruck.

"I too shall feast upon the pizza race!" Starfire cried in glee, and grabbed a pizza out of the box whole with her tongue. Cyborg and Beast Boy stopped in mid-chomp and all three male titans took a moment to appreciate the sight.

"That… should not be that hot," Beast Boy said. The others shook their heads, comically in synch.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Star, you're doing it again."

* * *

Beast Boy knocked apprehensively at Talon's door. Time had gotten away from them, and it was nearly midnight. The sight of a wooden door in a hallway made entirely of steel was rather incongruous.

"Enter." The door clicked slightly ajar. Nervously, he stepped inside, an apology already on his lips.

"Sorry, I was going to come up sooner, but-" He trailed off as he took in the room. Talon was sitting in an armchair, with an empty one facing it across a coffee table. A wine bottle and decanter sat on the table. Talon had a large book, which he put a ribbon in and shut. "Dude," Beast Boy grinned. "We have to paint your door blue."

Talon gave him a confounded look. "What?"

"Your room. It's bigger on the inside."

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry, I'll lend you some DV- ….. We'll figure something out."

"Yes. Well. About _this_-" he pulled the sword from where it leaned against the chair and laid it across the table. "Please, have a seat. There are events you need to be made aware of before you decide whether to take possession of Excalibur."

Beast Boy sat. "I thought you had a thing about not saying its name?"

Talon smiled mirthlessly. "This is my sanctuary. Anyone who could penetrate it from the outside to such an extent as to be able to hear what I am saying would hardly need to know the names of my tools to overpower me. Also, if Raven still wants to know, this room actually resides in Camelot that was."

"Oh . Okay…. How'd you know about that?"

"There is a big hole in the floor in the hallway. And no, you do not need to worry about eating or drinking in here, this is not Tir Na Nog. You will not be harmed unless you irritate me, and even then, it will most likely not be fatal." His smile vanished. "Now, if you don't have any more frivolous questions?"

"All right, chill out, dude, you'll live longer. Tell me what you need to."

"As you say. You realize, of course, that this is no ordinary blade. It is, by way of a rather blunt analogy, the badge of office of the Paladin. If you were to claim this of me, I would take you on as my apprentice and train you to take my duties."

"And what are those?"

"Every so often, a dream or nightmare goes rogue, and escapes into the world of the living. In general, a dream will try to create a utopia, and a nightmare will embark on a killing spree. These things threaten the stability of the Dreaming, which is the name of the realm we hail from, and in cases where Lord Dream himself cannot be seen to interfere, the Paladin is dispatched."

"Like a cosmic bounty hunter?"

"Some have operated that way, but it is less effective than a clean kill, and sooner or later the offender attempts it again."

"So you're just an assassin, then. You kill people."

"Dreams aren't technically 'alive' in the sense that you mean it, nor are they killed in the same sense that you mean."

Beast Boy frowned. "I'm going to set that aside. We're going to talk about that later. But if I took over from you, I could choose not to kill anyone?"

"Indeed. You would have free license to punish or pardon as you wish. But this is much more serious than you seem to be taking it. If you accept this, you _will_ die. And the life preceding that will be filled with pain and fear."

"Do I have to decide now?"

"Of course not. Take as long as you must. Do you have any other questions?"

Beast Boy shook his head. "I don't think so. Well, maybe one. You're not human. What would happen if I took over? Would i stop being human?"

"Eventually, perhaps. It is more likely that you would become part of both worlds. A half-breed, if you will.

"All riht... last one. What if I say no?"

"Nothing. I have several mundane swords that are nearly identical to Excalibur functionally. If you decide against apprenticeship, you may have one of those as your trophy. I apologize; I was compelled to accept your challenge out of hand, or I would have warned you of this beforehand."

Beast Boy stood. "All right. I'll need some time to think this over. It's…. big. I could save so many people that you would kill. I don't even know why I'm taking that so calmly." Something dawned on him. "Why am I so calm, Talon?"

Talon gestured out the window. "You are in the castle of Camelot, during the height of its golden age. Strife does not exist here, even mild anger is hard to come by."

"I don't…. Never mind. I need to leave." He made for the door, accidently knocking the table over. Talon caught the bottle and decanter before they hit the floor.

"Very well. I will not hold your decision against you." He righted the table and replaced the items. "I am sorry if I did not live up to your expectations, but I'm not out to save the world."

Beast Boy's hand froze on the door latch. "What did you say?"

"I am sorry."

"Not that. Never mind. If I agreed, could you teach me to recover lost memories?"

"Yours or someone else's?"

"Someone else. I… I need to help her."

"Who?"

He shook his head. "You've got your secrets, I've got mine. Can you or not?"

"I can teach you the ways of truth and illusion, but to forcibly modify someone's mind, I think you would do better to ask Raven."

"I did. She said that if she didn't want to remember, it would be wrong to make her."

"'Her?'" Talon nodded. "Say no more, my friend. There may be ways open if you joined me, yes. But it would not be pleasant, for her or for you, and she might very well hate you for it."

"I don't care if she hates me. I'd burn the world to have her back." He met Talon's gaze. "I'll do it. When can we start?"

"First thing in the morning. We will begin with combat drills. Bring painkillers."


	7. Chapter 6: Blank File

Chapter 6

Blank File

_Author's Note: I usually don't do these, but this one is special. I'm sorry this chapter is something like three months too late, but things happen. And as a result, I need a beta reader/fact-checker/idea guy. If anyone actually reads this story and is interested, please either PM me on the site, or through my email or messengers, contact information for which is given on my profile. Full credit will be given, naturally._

_In other news, hopefully the scene breaks work this time. I didn't even notice they had disappeared, and I will be going back and fixing the chapters as I have the chance._

"You did _what?" _ Robin yelled. He was furious, so angry he was barely able to restrain himself.

It was the morning after Beast Boy had spoken with Talon, and he had just told the rest of the team about the deal the two of them xhad struck as they sat at the table. Only Cyborg was absent, for which Beast Boy was profoundly glad. _Cy would kick my ass between my shoulderblades_, he thought.

Raven joined in from the other side. "Are you out of your fuzzy little mind? How could you _trust_ someone like him, much less agree to be his servant?"

"I didn't have choice, guys," Beast Boy said, lowering his voice. "He said he would help me recover Terra's memories."

"And of course he said nothing about _when," _Robin sighed. "Did it occur to you that he probably found out about her in some other fashion and used it to manipulate you?"

Beast Boy was taken aback. He _hadn't_ considered that. "So I screwed up big time, then." He sank down to the floor and put his head in his hands. "Great. What am I gonna do now? He's probably got some sort of spell on it where I can't back out now."

"Were I a lesser man, I would feel offended at this," Talon said from the doorway. He had a large pack slung over his shoulder that seemed very heavy. His face looked impassive as always, but he sounded genuinely hurt. "The first several lessons you need to learn are entirely physical, and during them, you are completely able to withdraw. I wouldn't hold it against you."

"Yeah, and we'll just trust your word on that," Raven said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What did I do to earn such hostility from you?"

"You're seriously asking that? You show up one day, try and kill us all, keep secrets from us, and you're _surprised_ that we don't trust you?"

"And I should simply tell you all my secrets?"

"Quid Pro Quo. You want our idiot, we want your story."

"Uh, guys?" Beast Boy ventured. "Don't I get a say?" the other three paid him no notice.

Talon glared at her for a moment, then looked at Robin. "You are the leader here, or so I assume. It is your decision."

"Look, I know you have trust issues, it's understandable. But we're not the enemy. Quit treating us like we are. If you share your past with us, I'll agree to let Beast Boy apprentice under you. Otherwise, it's not happening."

Talon growled. "Fine. But not here, and not now. Over dinner, I will lay out my tale. For now, do I have your permission to begin teaching young Garfield?" His face clearly conveyed what he thought of robin's permission.

Robin started to answer, but Beast Boy cut him off angrily. "Dude! Quit acting like I'm not here. This is _my_ choice, not yours! He already agreed to your terms, now quit interfering! And you!" He pointed at Talon. "Get that damn pack and get started! Jesus!" He threw his hands up in the air and stomped off to the gymnasium. There was silence in the dining room as everyone digested this.

Finally, Robin spoke. "You heard the man."

* * *

Talon and Beast Boy knelt on the floor as Talon unrolled the pack. On it was a wide assortment of blades, arranged by size into two sets. "These are what we will use when training. Hold out your hand." Beast Boy did so, and then yelped in pain as Talon quickly drew the knife across his palm, cutting deeply. He fell backwards, clutching his wounded hand for a moment before he realized that it was _not_ in fact cut. He looked up at Talon from the ground in bewilderment. Talon grinned. "Magic. My mentor did the exact same thing to me. It's…..traditional."

"Still a dick move. So what's the deal with them?"

"They will not cut anything living, though they will sunder almost anything else. You will feel the pain as if you had been cut or stabbed or the like, but you will not actually be injured. Very useful for practice, and even in the occasional combat situation." He indicated the handles. "Out of all the bladed weapons in the armory of the Dreaming, only these have green handgrips. That makes them very easy to find." He chuckled dryly. "Even if they have been mixed in with the rest of the weapons for twenty years. We will not be beginning with weapons for a day or so, yet, but you should get accustomed to moving while encumbered. Pick one of the longer blades and a few of the shorter that appeal to you, and we will begin."

Beast Boy sifted through the various weapons, and in short order had settled on several throwing knives, two longer straight daggers, and a medium-length sword with a large hand guard that Talon identified as a 'flamberge.' Talon produced a leather harness from a pile and fitted it to beast Boy. It was little more than two crossed bands of leather, with sheaths for the daggers behind his shoulders and one for the flamberge at his left hip. It was decidedly uncomfortable, and threw off his balance quite a bit.

Talon seemed to pick up on this, because he shrugged and said "It is just a basic affair. Before long, you will make your own, when you have a feel for how you would like it to hang. For now, we shall just work at improving your agility." He pointed to an obstacle course that took up a good deal of floor space. "You will use that."

Talon re-wrapped the bundle of swords and pushed it into a corner. Donning a similar harness to what Beast Boy wore, though Talon's was obviously cut to fit him perfectly, he drew a few of the green-trimmed throwing daggers. He attached something to each one, and the something immediately began to flash a green light at intervals. He showed these to Beast Boy, then with a few expert flicks of the wrist, he threw them into the obstacle course, where they stuck, vibrating slightly, in various hard-to-reach spots.

"Dude. _Tell_ me you'll teach me how to do that," Beast Boy said.

"Naturally. But for now, just concentrate on getting to them. Cyborg lent me the…. honestly, I do not know _what_ they are, but they will prevent _this_-" here he brought out a half-dome about the size of a half of a grapefruit, and slapped the flat side onto Beast Boy's chest, where it instantly adhered "from detonating. Each time you touch one of those knives, in order through the course, it will reset the countdown on the explosive."

Beast Boy paled. "Uh, I'm not so sure about this whole 'apprentice' thing anymore, man."

"Did you think you would become a warrior without ever looking Death in the eye?"

"No, but the learning curve here might need to be adjusted."

"Be that as it may, the timer has started." He looked at a small display he held. "One minute left to reach the first marker. And no animals."

Beast Boy yelped and sprinted towards the obstacle course, only to quickly trip over the flamberge's scabbard as it swung forward. He fell hard and felt his ribs creak as he landed on the bomb.

"Smoother!" Talon called. "Keep your left hand ready to grab it if it tries that again!"

Beast Boy slapped a hand at the first knife, and looked for the next. It was at the back of a walkway with slender metal poles like tree branches crisscrossing it. He noticed one other thing. The sensor on the knife had a digital countdown. It showed 90 seconds. Realizing he didn't have to rush this time, he slowly slid through with little trouble. He touched the second knife with more than half the time remaining.

The third marker was across a zigzagging balance beam. He immediately found himself having to compensate for how his center had shifted from all the extra weight. He nearly overbalanced once, but caught himself at the last moment. Nevertheless, there was only thirty seconds remaining on the clock at the checkpoint.

To reach the fourth knife, he had to contort himself through a large pipe. This gave him no trouble, it never had. But when he emerged, he found that the last marker would be the hardest. Dozens of ropes had been stretched across the path at various angles. He had to work his way through, but as time got short he began to panic. Within feet of the goal, the sword became caught, and it took him nearly ten seconds to free it. In desperation, he forced his way through the last hurdle, and grabbed the final knife as the timer ticked from 02 to 01. Shaking, he looked at Talon, who nodded.

"Not bad for a first try. This time, you have only a minute. Go."

The bottom dropped out of Beast Boy's stomach, even as he began to run. He did much better the second time through, now that he knew what to expect. He once again got caught by the ropes at the end, but slid neatly ought and finished with 10 seconds left.

"Very good." Beast Boy started to relax, and Talon smiled grimly. "45 seconds. Go."

Running at full speed, Beast Boy cleared the course again, this time without getting caught once. Exhausted, terrified, and elated all at once, he couldn't help but grin.

"I'm glad you are enjoying yourself, because it only gets more difficult from this point. One last lap. Thirty seconds."

Beast Boy's smile vanished like he'd been hit. He sprinted back to the beginning, and tagged the first knife, and dashed into the 'forest'. One of the rods slipped up under a shoulder strap and it nearly cost him his life. He tagged the second knife with four seconds left. He didn't have time to balance across the beam; instead, he took it at a sprint, leaping from zig to zag, and quickly cleared the leg.

It was the pipe that did it. Halfway through, his shirt caught on a sharp outcropping in the middle of the pipe. Try as he might, he couldn't free it, and with his arms stretched out ahead of him he couldn't reach back. With a mighty pull, the fabric parted, and a flash of pain shot down his back as the spur of metal cut a groove in his shoulder. He felt the bomb on his chest start to vibrate, and his panic lent him speed. Moving furiously, he tagged the fourth mark at the last possible second, and the bomb quieted.

He wormed his way lithely through the web of ropes, and once again found himself caught. This time, though, try as he might, he couldn't work the sword free. He heard a faint *beep* as the timer hit zero, and he closed his eyes and screamed as the bomb went off, holding his arms out in front of him, as if it would shield him. There was a loud BANG and the world turned orange.

For a moment, he couldn't understand what had happened. He opened his eyes in dumb confusion. He was alive, and covered in… paint? Still not quite understanding what was what, he made his way carefully through the remainder of the ropes. Talon stood there with a towel and a bottle of water. Beast Boy accepted both gratefully. He wiped the paint off his face and looked at Talon. "What…" he began, but just couldn't finish the thought.

"You failed. Which was the point, of course." Talon sat down and motioned for Beast Boy to do the same. "The point of this was twofold. It naturally makes you learn quickly how to move encumbered, and to keep in mind how it affects your balance and such, but also to show you that eventually, no matter how hard you try, you _will_ fail."

Beast Boy interrupted. "Then why didn't you just _say_ that?"

"Nothing teaches the lesson of fire better than a burned hand. But more importantly, _why_ did you fail?"

Beast Boy glared, but replied "I was too slow."

"Close." Talon held up three fingers. "First, you allowed me to dictate the terms. Had-"

"I thought that was the _point!" _Beast Boy fumed. "Isn't that what this whole master and apprentice thing is about?"

"Yes and no. In this case, yes, this is exactly how it was meant to play out, but now you should see how it applies to other situations. And the first lesson is, never let your enemy dictate the terms of engagement to you. Had you simply attacked, the bomb would have gone off and finished off your opponent. Had it been a real bomb and a real situation, of course. Second, you continued on the same course of action, even when it became apparent that you would not succeed. That seems to be a habit of you new heroes, and I'm afraid I will have to break you of it." He indicated the sword and knives Beast Boy carried. "You could have simply cut your way through most of the obstacles with those, but you never did."

"So, basically," Beast Boy said, "think outside the box?"

Talon looked confused. "I'm afraid I don't know that expression, Garfield. But I think you have the right idea. Think creatively. And fight dirty when you have to."

"And the third thing?"

Talon grinned. "You didn't trust Cyborg. There's no way in hell he would have given me a _real _bomb that will stick to somebody's chest."

Beast Boy groaned and let his head fall back against the wall. A moment later, he straightened back up. "Something's bugging me all of a sudden, man. For the last day you've been talking like someone out of Shakespeare, but all of a sudden, you know 'no way in hell'? Spill."

Talon shrugged. "I wouldn't be much good at infiltration if I couldn't pick up accents and phrases. I don't even think about it anymore, it just happens."

"So soon you'll sound like someone from _this_ century?"

"Probably. I would wager within a week or so."

"'I'll bet.'"

"Excuse me?"

"Say 'I'll bet' instead of 'I would wager'. It'll do wonders to remove the stick."

"Stick?"

"Yeah. The one up your butt."

Talon tried and failed to keep a straight face, and in a moment, they were both laughing hard.

"Whaddaya know," Beast Boy said. "There's a sense of humor in there after all."

Talon hung his head, trying to stop laughing. "It's been so long since I heard a good joke. People are usually too intimidated to be themselves when I'm around." This seemed to sober him, and he frowned thoughtfully.

"Maybe if you stopped acting like an utter tool, dude. Show some interest in people _beyond_ strapping a bomb to their chest."

Talon looked up, annoyed. "Times were, an apprentice who spoke to his master like that would be hided. Beaten," he amended, as Beast Boy opened his mouth to ask.

"Yeah, well, if you wanted silent respect, you picked the wrong apprentice. Hell, you picked the wrong _century_."

Talon snorted. "Indeed. Well, you should wash that paint off before it dries, and I need to return the devices I borrowed to Cyborg. Return when you are clean and I will teach you some hand-to-hand combat. You seem to rely far too much on your animal forms to fight. "

Beast Boy nodded and left, taking his shirt off as he walked. Talon remained seated for a few moments, and then went about collecting the daggers from the obstacle course. He was halfway across the room when Robin fell into step next to him.

"A word, Talon?" Talon nodded, and they faced each other. Robin inclined his head towards the obstacle course. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes. I do not have the time to coddle the boy. The sooner he learns the hard lessons, the more I will be able to teach him."

"What, are you dying? I thought that was patently impossible for you."

"As far as I know. But that is the way the succession of the mantle of Paladin is handled."

"Handled? By who?"

Talon shook his head. "There are some secrets that are better left unknown."

"Fine. But if you hurt him-"

"Of _course_ I'm going to hurt him!" Talon snapped. "I've got roughly two years to turn the boy into the last line of defense this cosmos has. It is not going to be a pleasant process, and I speak from experience." His voice softened. "But don't sell Garfield short. He is much stronger than you think he is."

"For the record, I still don't like this. I'll be keeping an eye on you, Talon."

"Very well, Robin." He gave a half-bow, and turned to leave. Robin grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.

"I wasn't finished. Beast Boy might be your apprentice, but when we're on a mission, you both report to me. Understood?"

"Indeed. Will there be anything else?"

"No."

"Good." He started to leave, and paused. "May I ask a personal question, Robin?"

"What is it?"

"You and Starfire, are you two… involved?"

"Dating, you mean?"

"Yes."

"No, we're not."

"Why not? Obviously you want to."

"That's a pretty personal statement, dude."

"I am rather experienced in the field of unrequited love. And you absolutely _reek_ of it."

Robin sighed. "I shouldn't talk about it. It's not something I'm proud of."

"Again, I am an expert in that field. I realize you don't trust me, but you have my Name. I could not repeat anything you told me in confidence."

Robin looked around. Nobody else was in the gym, which was hardly unusual at this time of day. Raven would be meditating, and Cyborg was probably working on some new invention in the bowels of the tower.

"I don't want you to get the wrong idea, Talon. I'm not telling you this because I like you, but I did force your hand about your past, so fair's fair. A couple years ago, one of our missions led us to Japan. We fought a monster named Brushogun. Star nearly died. Afterwards, we kissed. It was a mistake. I was so happy that she was alive that I forgot myself. She only went with it because I'm her leader. I can't put that kind of pressure on her. I'm sure you've noticed that Star tries to please everyone."

"Actually, no. She doesn't seem to like me much." He smiled wryly. "Though I suppose I earned that."

Robin nodded. "Well, if I asked her out and she said yes, I'd never know if it was because she really wanted to, or if she just wanted to keep peace on the team. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Thank you." He walked to the door, then paused and looked at Robin over his shoulder. "I won't speak of this to anyone, but if I may give you some advice, having been in your shoes, do not waste what time you have." Before Robin could reply, he was gone.

* * *

Cyborg was up to his shoulders in the T-car's engine. If this upgrade worked, the car would be able to draw on his power cells to run a new pair of sonic cannons. If not…. Well, there was a reason they bought materials for the car in bulk.

A rapping on the door announced Talon's arrival. He tossed Cyborg the relays and said "Thank you for the equipment."

"Yeah? How'd it work?"

Talon grinned. "Bright orange from head to toe."

"Y'know, T-man, I think we're gonna get along just _fine."_

Talon looked at the T-car. "So this is an automobile? May I? I have not had occasion to examine one of these before."

"Yeah, she's one of a kind. Hop in, check it out, just don't push any buttons. And just so we're clear, if you so much as _smudge _her, I will tie you in a knot."

Talon leaned in the window and poked at the seats. "Very comfortable. " He finished looking the interior over and joined Cyborg at the engine block. "So you… create things?" he asked. "I offer no offense, but I am unclear of your role on the team."

"Pretty much. Most of the gadgets we use are my design. I developed a new microprocessor for the t-car here that will double its fuel efficiency. Or blow it up. I'm hoping for the first one." He grinned at Talon, and then had to stop himself from laughing at the utter confusion on the other's face. "Right, you don't know what that is, do you?"

"As you would say, it is all Greek to me," Talon replied.

"Okay, let's see. It runs on gasoline and oil, which is basically made from plants and animals from millions of years ago."

"Indeed?"

"Not exactly, but it's close enough for government work. This little doohickey-" he detached the chip and held it up on his finger for Talon to see, "-makes it take less oil and gas to run."

"Or explode."

"Or that, yeah."

Talon looked uncomfortable. "Cyborg. I …. Apologize for my remark yesterday. It was out of line."

"Water under the bridge, man."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It means 'don't worry about it'. Man, you _are_ from another world, aren't you?"

"No. This one, but very long ago."

"Cool." Cyborg tightened one more component and slammed the hood shut. "All right. Let's see what this puppy can do!" He went around to the driver's side and hopped in. He turned the key, and immediately alarm klaxons began to blare.

Talon had his hands clamped over his ears. "Is it supposed to do that? Take the chip off, killing an extra dinosaur is worth the quiet!" he yelled over the din.

"That's the crime alarm!" Cyborg hollered back. He jumped out of the car and hit a red button on one wall. The alarm quieted, though they could hear a similar din in other rooms.

Cyborg tapped his right forearm and opened a channel. "What ya got, Robin? We got a fix?"

"It's Control Freak, and he's downtown. Prep the car. I hope your new modification works. We'll be there in a couple minutes. Robin out."

"Balls!" Cyborg swore. He got back in and cranked the ignition. "Come on, baby, work for papa." The engine roared into life and the trimming began to glow to match Cyborg's armor. Cy heaved a sigh of relief.

"Control Freak, Robin said? Who is that?" Talon asked.

"Fat kid with a remote, nothing to worry about."

"What is a remote?"

Cyborg looked at Talon like he had grown a second head. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"I have been here for all of two days, and unconscious for a quarter of that. A little consideration, if you please?"

"I.. but… but that's….. Okay, when this little crisis is over, you're getting a crash course on the twenty-first century."

Talon looked displeased with this, but at that moment Raven and Starfire burst into the room.

"The car's not going to blow up again, is it?" Raven asked.

"Nah, just tested her. Runs like a dream." He thumbed his nose. "Everybody in!"

"Hang on," Raven held up a hand. "The T-car only has 5 seats. Who's walking? Or is the new guy going to sit in Robin's lap?"

Talon smirked. "I thought perhaps Starfire could sit in mine."

"Dude," Beast Boy walked into the room, having caught the tail end of the conversation. "Do you _know_ what Robin would do to you?"

"It was a joke, Beast Boy, though it was in poor taste" Starfire said.

"If I know Robin, he's probably psyched that he gets to ride his motorcycle again" Cyborg said. "He always gets pissy when I drive."

"I do not." Robin walked in and pulled the tarp off his bike. "I just think you drive like a hippo on speed. Talon, you ride with them. Since Control Freak is a minor threat at best, you go in first, and we'll see what you can do. Nonlethal, and that's an order."

"Fine," Talon replied, climbing into the backseat. Star and Raven got in on either side, and Beast Boy and Cyborg piled in the front. With a screech of tires, they shot into the exit tunnel and were off.

Cyborg bent over the steering wheel, pushing the pedal flat against the floor. The roar of the engine was deafening in the small tunnel. Robin was behind them for a moment, but defying gravity, drove up one wall of the rounded tunnel, passed the roof, and came down the other side in front of them. He popped the wheel up and put on a burst of extra speed, leaving the larger car in a cloud of burnt rubber and exhaust.

"Dammit!" Cyborg muttered. "He always does that." He glanced in the rearview and saw Talon leaning forward, his mouth hanging agape. "You liked that, huh?"

"That was… gorgeous." Talon breathed. "Like….." He tried and failed to come up with a comparison. "Can this device do the same?"

Cyborg chewed his lip. "Well, with the new chip, it should be-" Cyborg was cut off by everyone screaming "NO!" in unison.

"Fine. Killjoys."

* * *

The T-car screeched to a halt next to Robin's motorbike, and the five heroes leapt out. Robin jerked his head towards the large building that was their target, the Jump City Convention Center.

"Control Freak's in there. We'll split into three teams to find him. Radio in when you have a location. Raven, you're with me. Starfire, go with Cyborg. Beast Boy and Talon, you lead." The other titans nodded.

Talon followed Beast Boy to the large doors. The green boy pulled them open and immediately squealed and collapsed. Cyborg and Robin were at his side in a moment and pulled him up. "What's the matter, Beast Boy?" Robin asked, his voice tense. "Did something hit you?"

"It's- it's it's-" Beast Boy stuttered, his eyes wide and his finger pointing tremblingly.

Talon cautiously pulled the door open from well to one side, and Robin held a birdarang at the ready. Neither was ready for what they saw.

Beast Boy finally found his voice. "It's the Battle of the Planets official convention!" He exclaimed in awe. "It's impossible to get tickets to!" Robin and Cyborg exchanged glances and Cyborg dropped Beast Boy back to the ground.

"We've been through this," Robin said. "Hero first, _then_ geek."

"Pardon me," Talon interjected, "But what is this 'Planet Battle,' or whatever you call it?"

Cyborg shook his head. "Man, do _not _get him star-" He paused, considering all that had taken place over the last few days. "Naw, BB, tell him everything about it." He grinned.

Beast Boy nodded enthusiastically and dragged Talon into the crowd by the arm. "Yeah, come on, I'll tell you on the way. I bet we can use the 'teen hero' card to get to the front of the line for an autograph from Jack Harnell!"

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Was that really necessary?"

Cyborg smirked. "Like you weren't all thinking it. Now c'mon, I just polished my ass-kickin' boot. Let's find someone I can use it on."

Nearly half an hour passed as the three teams combed the grounds for Control Freak. They had begun to give up hope when all the lights in the building went out, save for two spotlights focused on a stage that dominated the center of the room. A large four-legged vehicle of some kind stood across it on a diagonal. The rest of the stage was empty until, with a puff of smoke, Control Freak appeared and began to laugh. His visage was picked up on a jumbotron suspended from the ceiling. Talon and Beast Boy were closest to the stage; Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla, grabbed Talon and tossed him onstage. Beast Boy followed momentarily, morphing from hawk to human as he landed. The others leapt or flew to land at other parts of the stage, leaving Control Freak mostly surrounded.

"GREETINGS, TITANS! …And guest?" He looked at Talon. Talon shrugged and made a noncommittal motion with his hand. _Pretty much_. Control Freak regained his composure, and launched into his monologue. "I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here tonight."

Cyborg checked his chronometer. "It's two in the afternoon dude."

"SHUT UP! As I was saying, I have upgraded-"

"Where were you for the last hour? If you called us here, you should at least show."

"_SHUT UP!"_ Control Freak reddened a bit, and said in a low voice, "I wanted Jack Harnell's autograph." Remembering where he was, he stomped his foot. "THAT'S NOT THE POINT! Behold, Titans! With my new reality remote, I will bring every prop and costume in this convention under my direct control!" He raised his hand in the air in a dramatic fashion and held out the remote with his other hand, a bright red button dominating most of it. "Behold, as the Geek inherit the earth!" Laughing maniacally, he raised his hand pointing dramatically at the ceiling. He paused momentarily, seemingly savoring his imminent victory, before bringing his hand-

*THOCK*

Control Freak's eyes bugged out as his hand was flung backwards, and then the pain, white hot and unbearable, registered. He began to shriek, looking at the large double-bladed knife that was growing out of his palm and pinning it to the prop behind him, which wobbled alarmingly as his bulk struck it.

The other titans rounded on Talon in horror. "Dude, what the hell?" Beast Boy yelled. "Don't you know that's one of the actual Dynastic Crawlers from the movies?" Robin's glare transferred to Beast Boy, who withered. "I mean, 'stabbing people is wrong.'"

"Damn right that's what you mean." Cyborg said grimly.

"I fail to see the issue," Talon raised a querying eyebrow. "He is disabled, and with no casualties."

"You _do_ understand what 'nonlethal' means don't you?"

"He'll live." Talon sighed. "But I suppose if it puts you so out of sorts..." he brushed past Robin and walked to where control freak was sobbing in terror. He grasped the knife. "Hello. My name is Talon. There are two ways we can proceed. First, I can remove this knife and you can…" He looked at Robin. "…go to prison?" he finished with a disdainful expression. When it got no reaction, he turned back to Control Freak. "Second, if you do not cooperate with the first plan, I give this knife a nice, hard twist, and _then_ you can go to prison." Control Freak whimpered and nodded.

Talon yanked the knife out of the wall roughly, and Control Freak collapsed in a heap, clutching his hand. Talon grabbed the remote and broke it in half. Then he tossed the knife to Beast Boy. "You see? They aren't always useful, but when they are…" Beast Boy was confused, and looked blankly at the knife for a moment before he realized there was a green snake engraved along one side. Comprehension dawned and he grinned.

"Talon, you're confined to quarters," Robin snapped, poking him in the chest.  
"Why?"

"This is not how we do things in my city."

"And what would you have done? Broken his arm, beaten him unconscious?"

"_We. Do. Not. Knife. Criminals._" He put emphasis on each word. "Especially not out of the blue like that!"

Talon's eye twitched. He indicated the blades he wore. "Did you think I carried these for _fashion? _Should I have sung something to him instead?"

Beast Boy piped up from where he and Cyborg were attending to Control Freak. "Well, you could have distracted him with your scratchy voice."

"A distraction to what end, G- Beast Boy," Talon caught himself. "_You_ failed to bring your weapons."

"Be quiet, Talon. Go wait in the car."

"I will not be insulted, Robin, leader or no. I will return to my chambers. "He stepped towards the unconscious Control Freak as if to tread on him, but as he did so, he faded into nothing, which seemed, contrarily, to be drawn into Control Freak's head.

"Raven?" Robin said. "What was that?"

"I don't know. He works for Dream, maybe he -"

"Uh, guys?" Cyborg interrupted the pair of them. "I think you better take a look at this." He held up Control Freak's right hand, and for a moment Robin didn't realize what Cyborg meant, there was nothing wrong with the hand. Then it hit him. There wasn't so much as a scratch on it.

"Hang on, Cy, did you do something to that?" Robin was confused.

"Nope. You got any ideas?"

Beast Boy grinned. "Dudes, the green ones don't cut." Robin and Cyborg looked at him quizzically. Beast Boy couldn't help it, he laughed at the absurdity of _him_ being the only one to know. He held up the knife. "The green knives, man. Tall-pale-an'-ugly gave me a set of these." He began to lay out the details on the weapons Talon had doled out.

Robin and Cyborg worked while he did so, and by the time he was done, the SCU had arrived to cart off Control Freak.

Robin watched the police leave, and then turned to the others. "Cyborg, you, me and Beast Boy will return to the tower. Starfire, Raven, a quick patrol of the city, if you please."

Starfire and Raven nodded, and took off in two separate directions.

* * *

Starfire followed the coast north, and then turned in towards the factory district. She flew for some time, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

On her second pass through a particular zone, something made her land. She didn't know what it was; only that it couldn't be denied. She alighted in an intersection formed by converging alleyways. Several homeless people were already there, gathered around a few large garbage cans filled with newspaper and driftwood. The nights were already getting cold by this time of year.

Starfire found herself drawn to one of these gatherings whose can was already lit. Three women of radically different ages were huddled together across from her. They met her gaze as she approached.

"Hello, moppet," the oldest woman said. She was scarecrow-thin and had an intimidating air about her, despite her surroundings. "And what brings the beautiful Starfire to our dingy corner of the world?"

"I… do not know, honored elder," Starfire said, confused. "I was flying by, and then I was simply… drawn here."

"Everyone comes to these parts eventually, child," The second woman, a motherly-looking woman with a kind face. "It's how long you stay; that's the question."

"Why am I here? What brought me?"

"Why, you brought yourself, and you should know better than we why you looked for us," the youngest woman, barely older than Starfire herself. "We know of your need, and we wish to help."

"But I do not even know you. Have we met before?"

"No, poppet. But we know of your houseguest. And that you don't like him." She wagged a finger at Starfire.

Starfire was immediately on her guard. Something was wrong here, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "I may not like the Talon, but Robin said to work with him, and I will listen to Robin."

"Of course you do. But what if he means to hurt this Robin? What then, dearie?"

Starfire's face darkened. "I would destroy him if he tried."

"But then, even if you _did_ stop the interloper, Robin would still be furious with you, poppet."

"Wait, please," Starfire shook her head. "The Talon still has not acted like a threat. Why should I want to destroy him?"

"But poppet, if this Talon lives, your Robin will die. But if you play to his weakness, you can bring the interloper's death and your Robin's salvation, and no-one will know."

Starfire turned to walk away. "_I _would know." She lifted off, but paused only a few feet off the ground. "This weakness you mentioned. What is it?" She turned, but the three women were gone. The alcove where they stood was empty, save for a single word chalked on the back wall. Starefire read it confusedly. Surely that couldn't be the answer to her question, could it? Shaking her head, she rose above the roofline. The sun was already setting. Surely her conversation with the strange women hadn't taken _that_ long.

As if in answer to this thought, her communicator beeped. She popped it open and Raven's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, Star. You hadn't reported in for a few hours. Everything all right?"

"Yes, I just stopped for a while."

"Where? Was there trouble?"

Starfire looked below her. There was nothing there. No alley, no factories, just an intersection in the far outskirts of the city. "Everything's fine…. There was nothing." Deeply disturbed, she shut the communicator and raced for the tower and home.

* * *

Robin found Talon in his rooms, poring over a scroll at a desk, his back to the door. Talon tensed slightly as he entered, but pretended not to notice Robin's presence. It didn't work. Robin cleared his throat loudly. With an annoyed snort, Talon released the scroll, which sprang closed. He turned to face Robin.

"Am I disturbing you?" Robin asked.

"As a matter of fact, you are. What do you need, Robin?"

Robin decided not to rise to the bait. "At the convention. You stabbed Control Freak. W-"

"With a knife that leaves no wound, yes. Your orders, if you recall."

"Don't you think you should have _warned_ some of us beforehand?"

"Of course, it would have been simpler to…" Talon trailed off. "You didn't know?"

"Forgive me if I don't know all of your tricks after you tell us nothing about you."

"I did not expect you to. Did Garfield not tell you what I taught him today?"

"No. I thought that was some big dreamy secret." Robin didn't bother to hide his distaste.

"No. Forgive me, I assumed you knew. Your reaction is understandable. I will endeavor to keep you informed in the future."

"All right." Robin started to leave. "By now, I'm sure everyone is waiting for you at the dinner table. You'd better hurry or there'll be no food left."

"Tell them I will be down shortly, if you would," Talon answered. "I have to prepare."

"Well, still. You'd better hurry up, or there'll be no food."

"You need not worry about that." He put on a thick accent. "I dine… alone."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Lugosi?"

"Blame my aunt. She showed me the film when it was newly released."

Robin smiled. "All right, then. I'll tell them."

* * *

Almost an hour later, the Titans were still sitting around the dinner table. The food was long gone, but Talon still hadn't shown up. Finally, Beast Boy stood up, intending to go get him, but as he did so, the door opened and Talon entered. He set a cloth-wrapped bundle in front of him.

Taking in the scene in a glance, he lowered his head apologetically. "I am sorry. I did not intend to make you wait so long. I was searching for these." He drew from inside his cloak a pair of dusty wine bottles and set them on the table. Cyborg didn't wait for a request; he disappeared into the kitchen and came back moments later with six wine glasses. Talon smiled and thanked him.

"In my country, and in my time, we would share good wine before telling stories. It was said to lend power to the speaker, to help him connect with the muses and therefore make his story truer. Please, drink with me, for this wine was last drunk on the day we visit, and I would taste it once more." Saying this, he filled the glass in front of each of them with a light, rosy-pink wine. The aroma spread throughout the room, bringing to mind fields of flowers and a world newly formed. Music seemed to fill the air as the liquid poured forth.

Talon filled the last glass and corked the bottle, which seemed as full as when he had started.

"Tonight, we return to the ancient world, to a time when the gods walked among men." As Talon spoke, his Glamour faded. He seemed to grow slightly taller, his hair receded a bit, and became chestnut brown streaked through with white at the temples. Only his eyes remained unchanged, retaining their cold blue. "I told you my name is Talon, that I am the Paladin of the Dreaming. And it is true. But ten thousand years ago, when the world was new… "He picked up the bundle and began to unwrap it, and motioned for the others to drink.

Cyborg took a tentative sip, letting his onboard computer scan the wine against possible poison. Finding it clean, he drank deeper. It was delicious. The others did the same, Talon draining his glass in a single draught.

Talon set the glass down with a flourish and removed the item he had drawn from its wrappings. It was like a harp, but smaller, and subtly different. It was obviously ancient, the wood looked petrified and it was missing a string. Talon drew his hand over the remaining strings, and the sound that came forth was…. There was no describing it. It was beautiful, haunting, mournful and happy at once. Talon spoke over it, and under his words ran a current of power. They realized he was no longer speaking English, but some foreign tongue. Yet they could understand him as he finished his introduction.

"In those days, my name was Orpheus, son of Calliope and the Dreamlord, Oneiros. Come now, this is where our story begins. This is the day I was married." He paused, and the music dipped. "This is the day I died. " With the final syllable, the floor vanished underneath the six, and they fell into darkness.


	8. Chapter 7: The Song of Orpheus

Chapter 7

The Song of Orpheus

Panic struck hard and fast as the blackness swallowed them all. They fell for only moments, but it seemed like agonizing hours crept by in the inky dark. Soon, however, the sensation of movement stopped, and they found themselves floating in an endless abyss. There was no sky or earth anywhere to be seen, no distinguishing feature to break the view to an infinity of nothing.

"Wh-what happened?" Starfire asked fearfully. "Where are we?" She looked to Talon, but he had vanished.

"I knew we couldn't trust him!" Robin fumed. He drew his legs up to a sitting position as he thought. "There's got to be some way out of this. It's just another one of his illusions."

"You're right," Cyborg confirmed. "Sensors still have us at the table."

A faint melody floated through the void, timid and soothing. Ground began to appear beneath their feet, and Talon stood by them once more, strumming his lyre.

"I am truly sorry," he said, inclining his head and looking sheepish. "It has been so long since I tried this, I forgot how much effort it requires." He looked genuinely apologetic.

"This is my story, of the day I wed, of the day I died," Orpheus intoned, and they realized he was no longer speaking English. The words that flowed were musical and alien, but the sense of what he sang they heard, each in their native tongue.

_Speak to me mother, of that fateful day. _

_That day everything began, when everything ended._

The scene shifted, and they were standing on the surface of a tumultuous ocean. Suddenly, their perspective doubled. They were simultaneously above and below the water. They(he) were drowning and hale, wet and dry.

_He(they) floats alone on a wine-dark sea. He(they) looks around for his(their)love, but she is not there. He calls her name in a broken voice, but there is no answer. He begins to cry, and the salt of his tears mingles with that of the waves. _

_It comes to him, then, that he must be dreaming. He smiles in relief._

"Father?" He called tentatively, and the dream changed around him. His father stood on the waves before him. He looked different than when the Titans had seen him on the beach. His hair was the darkest black that could be imagined, and his clothing, an elaborate toga, was of the same color, save for a blood-red ruby clasp. But there was no mistaking the Lord of Dreams.

"Orpheus. You should wake soon," he said, not unkindly. "It is, after all, your wedding day."

"But what does this dream mean?" Orpheus asked, still in the water with only his face above the surface.

"Am I a hedge wizard, that I should translate your dreams for you?" Dream sounded displeased.

"But was it an omen, or merely a nightmare?" he persisted.

But whatever Dream would have answered was muddled, as Orpheus felt himself shaken.

The blackness swirled in, and when it cleared, they found themselves standing in a small house. Orpheus slept naked on a bed of straw, and a hairy creature shook his shoulder, urging him to awake. Beast Boy opened his mouth to ask what the creature was, and the word _satyr_ came unbidden into his mind.

Orpheus stirred. "I am sorry, Aristaeus," he mumbled, still groggy. "I had.. nightmares." His voice was musical, almost hypnotic. It was hard to reconcile that fact with Talon's scratchy, gravelly voice.

"Don't worry, lad. Takes me back to my wedding day. I was terrified."

"You were married?" Orpheus asked. "You never told me. What happened to her?"

"She died," Aristaeus said bitterly. "Long ago."

"I am sorry,"

The satyr harrumphed. "It was a long time ago. People die. It's part of life. Now get dressed, or you'll be late." He smiled slightly. "It's been a long time since I attended a wedding. Roast ox, eh?"

"No, old friend," Orpheus said, pulling his tunic on. "No sacrifices today. Nothing will die on my wedding day."

Once more the scene shifted. Orpheus and his companion were walking along a hill towards a clearing full of people. Seeing them, a youngish woman, in her mid-twenties at a glance, waved and ran to Orpheus and they embraced. She had platinum-blonde hair, and wore a simple toga.

"Orpheus, my son. I am so proud of you," she said.

"Thank you, mother," Orpheus said, breaking the embrace and stepping back. He indicated the satyr. "This is my friend, Aristaeus. He's a farmer. Aristaeus, my mother, Calliope." He looked around. "Will father be here?"

"**I would not miss my own son's wedding, Orpheus," **Dream spoke from behind him. He was wearing a simpler tunic than in Orpheus' dream, though it was still black and clasped with the ruby. **"But where is your wife-to-be? I would meet the girl."**

A woman in a white dress approached from behind where the Titans observed. She stepped through Starfire without pausing. Starfire flinched slightly as the woman emerged from her.

"I am here, Oneiros," The woman said. She had jet black hair, with a stripe of white down the center. "I am pleased to see you here this day." She looked at Orpheus with a twinkle in here eye. "And you too, Orpheus."

Orpheus wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly. "Eurydice. My Eurydice." He smiled warmly as he held her.

"Well here we all are," said a new voice. They all turned to see who it was. An older woman was walking from the trees, wearing a dark blue, flowing dress. She wore a large ankh-shaped pendant around her neck, and a smaller one dangled from either ear. She was stunningly beautiful, and had an infectious smile. "I _like_ weddings," she said. "Especially family weddings."

Dream inclined his head. **"I was not certain you would come, my sister."**

Her smile widened. "Oh, it's not just me. It's all of us." She gestured at five others who followed her.

Orpheus took Eurydice's hand. "Let me introduce you to my uncles and aunts," he said. "My aunt Teleute," he said, and the woman in the blue dress nodded. He introduced her to a short, nude woman named Aponoia and a young girl called Mania. The next person he hesitated a moment. "This is my, uh… uncle-aunt Epithumia" He or She, they couldn't tell which, smiled and wished the two well. A giant man in armor was introduced as Olethros, who also gave his best wishes. As Orpheus said each of their names, they heard another, more familiar name, overlaid on top of it.

"And this," Orpheus said, bringing her to meet the last person, an old man in a brown robe, "is my uncle Potmos."

"I greet you, Eurydice, on the day of your wedding," he said, stiffly.

"Uncle?" Orpheus asked, confused. "Will you not wish us well?"

Potmos straightened up. "I am Potmos. I am Destiny. I do not wish; I know. What will happen, will happen. But the priest awaits, the wedding begins."

They watched the wedding in silence as it proceeded, aside from Beast Boy snickering when the priest asked for a blessing on the union in the name of Hymenaeus, the lord of marriage. Calliope cried and even raven found herself smiling as Orpheus and Eurydice shared their first kiss as man and wife.

There was a sense of time passing as the revelries went on. Orpheus led the band on his lyre while the wedding guests danced. Later, the titans would be unable to remember if it had been moments or hours that they had listened to the music before Orpheus' head shot up and his lyre fell from his hands.

"Something is wrong.." he said in a small voice. Then, even smaller, "Eurydice?" His eyes widened, and a stricken look crossed his face. As he ran towards his wife, the music halted and the scene disappeared. Once again, the Titans found themselves in abject darkness, but it quickly lightened, and they found themselves again in the real world.

It was a moment before anyone spoke. They were all both stunned and disoriented from the visions. Beast Boy broke the silence first. "What.. what happened to her?"

Talon spoke, and his voice was again gravelly and unpleasant. "She died. A snake bit her as she danced." He sounded choked, but his eyes were dry.

Raven looked at him coolly. "Theatrics notwithstanding, you haven't told us anything we didn't already know."

Talon sighed. "This is how it must be. There are rules that prevent me from answering directly. Please, I beg your indulgence."

Without waiting for an answer, he began to play again. This time the change was sweeping, and a new scene bloomed around them. They stood above atop a cliff behind Orpheus, who gazed down at a burning pyre on the ground.

Cyborg looked over the cliff, peering at the fire. Focusing with his electronic eye, he could make out the people gathered around. A body lay in the middle of the pyre, wrapped in linens that had begun to burn.

Robin asked, tentatively "Is that-"

"Yeah, that's What's-her-name."

They waited to see what would happen, but for the longest time Orpheus merely watched his wife's pyre. His grief was palpable, but his eyes were dry.

Finally, he picked up his lyre. It was the same instrument he had used in the tower, but much newer. He began to play, and the melody was strange and dreamlike; they could not pick out the notes, or hear the accompanying words. The air in front of Orpheus began to shimmer, and they could see into a strange place beyond it. The window became a door in the strange way things happen in a dream, and Orpheus stepped through.

They found themselves on a marble staircase leading down up from a lagoon. Before them was an immense castle. Made of marble, in a decidedly Greek style, statues of angels and gods adorned parapets and spires beyond number. Above and to either side of the main gate, the guardians of the castle, for they could be nothing else, regarded the intruder to the realm.

"Who is it?" Asked a griffin perched to the left, turning his head to look from either eye.

"It is the boy-child," Answered the dragon that laid across the top of the gate.

"Ask him what he wants"

"You ask him."

"I am here to see my father"

"Enter, then, boy. Your father is here," the griffin dipped his head in acknowledgement.

The third guardian, a winged horse, spoke for the first time. "Orpheus, we have heard of your loss. You have our sympathies, my friend."

Orpheus' eyes narrowed. "I do not need you pity, hippogriff," he snarled.

"It was freely given, boy. You should not scorn it," the hippogriff replied.

Orpheus stormed past. "Don't pity me."

He found his father on a parapet, staring off into the distance. Oneiros' black robes billowing in the wind. He spoke without turning.

"**You should have gone to the funeral"**

"Why?"

"**To say goodbye." **He turned to face his son.

"I have not yet said goodbye to Eurydice," Orpheus

Dream sighed. **"You should. You are mortal: it is the mortal way. You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life. And at times the fact of her loss will hit you like a blow to the chest, and you will weep. But this will happen less and less as time goes on. She is dead. You are alive. So live." **He paced as he spoke, like a professor delivering a lecture.

Orpheus met Oneiros's gaze levelly. "She is alive in the underworld.

Oneiros stopped. **"So?"**

Gathering his resolve, Orpheus pushed forward. "So. Will you help me get her back? Will you go to Hades and Kore and plead my case?"

Oneiros looked away from his son. **"You are talking foolishness. I will hear no more of it."**

"But father-"

"**No more." **The Dream King's face was unreadable, as always, but his tone was absolute. There would be no appeals.

"Very well, then," Orpheus said softly. "No more. I am no longer your son." He brushed by and walked briskly back out of the castle, ignoring his father's calls, his mouth set in a hard line.

He awoke on the clifftop, and realized that almost no time had passed, in the manner of dreams. Eurydice's pyre still burned, hundreds of feet below. He walked to the edge of the cliff and stared down in contemplation.

"Suicide, eh, laddie?" a boisterous voice startled him, and he nearly fell off the cliff. Rough hands caught him and brought him back to solid ground. Olethros in his armor stood with him. "D'you _really_ think that's your wisest course?"

"I do," Orpheus answered morbidly. "We cannot be together alive. We _can _be together in the underworld. Cold and pale and immobile forever. Together we will whisper in the shallow voices of the dead; together we will wait in the darkness. And, in the end- but together- we will drink the waters of the Lethe that bring forgetfulness."

"That… is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I'm as old as time itself!" Olethros laughed heartily at this. "Boy, I think you're more in love with the _idea _of your dead wife than you ever were with the girl herself."

Orpheus's face darkened. "You take that back. Take it back or I'll-"

"Calm down, lad, calm down," Olethros admonished him, "Or I'll toss you in the air and _catch _you, the way I used to when you were smaller." They stared at each other for a time, Orpheus glaring and Olethros looking bemused. Finally Orpheus visibly deflated and turned away.

"What do you want, uncle? Did you merely come to mock me as well?"

"As well? You've seen your father, I take it."

"Yes. For all the help he was."

"Mmm." Olethros nodded. "He's set in his ways, but he does care for you."

"He has a funny way of showing it."

"Well, death is hardly his province. Have you spoken with Teleute?"

"Why? What could she do for me?"

Olethros sat down on a large rock. He looked uncertain, as if he regretted having broached the subject. "She can do anything she wants. But there will be conditions. There are always conditions."

Orpheus didn't even seem to have heard him. "But, I don't even know howto find her. I mean, she just turns up whenever she wants. What would I have to do?"

"Well, you could die, naturally. You wouldn't have much of a chance for chitchat, but you'd _see_ her at least."

"That's what I was about to try when you interrupted me," Orpheus interjected.

"Or, you could be born. You'd see her then, but you people never remember that conversation. I don't know why, but you just don't. "

"'We people' only get born once, remember. So that one's out."

"Don't be an ass. I suppose all that's left is to try going to her house."

"She has a house?"

"Aye. She has a great many things, though she seldom finds use for them." He gave a rumbling chuckle as he mused. "You should _see_ her floppy hat collection." He laughed at Orpheus's confused look. "Never mind. Yes, she has a house."

"So how do I get there?"

"You ask your uncle Olethros to send you there. And you ask _nicely."_ He gave one of those infuriating grins that only close family seem able to get away with.

"Will you? Please?" Orpheus asked.

"Aye." Olethros held his fist outstretched away from Orpheus, and without warning the air rent itself open, revealing a portal. "Through there," he said.

Orpheus nodded and turned away. Hesitating for only a moment, Orpheus stepped through into the House of Death. But as he did so, the scene froze. After a moment, the scenery began to dissolve, like mist after dawn begins to burn it from the ground. The Titans realized they were now seated, though there hadn't been any transition, which was more than a little jarring.

Talon leaned heavily on the table, sweat standing out on his brow and his face flushed. Robin turned to ask him a question, but Talon forestalled it with a waved hand. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked. "It was just getting good."

Talon glared at him for a moment, but then his face relaxed. "No mortal alive knows the details of what happened next. That is as it should be. "

"Yeah, that's not melodramatic at all," Raven said flatly. She raised her hands to her face. "It's _sooo_ mysterious. And what's with the full-immersion? Can't you-"

"Because there are rules," Talon snapped, losing his patience. "My tale is not allowed to be spoken aloud or passed with symbols by anyone who knows that 'Talon' is Orpheus. For someone to be initiated, when it cannot be avoided, it must be shared, mind to mind, in dreams." He gave her a strained look. "Look, I am almost finished. I can finish the tale in a few moments, and then I will answer your questions. Acceptable?" Without pausing for her to respond, he snatched up the jar of wine and drank deeply, then set it down with a satisfied sigh.

"I can't tell you what transpired between myself and Teleute. Suffice to say, it was made so that I cannot die. Ever. It was the only way for me to enter the underworld, which I did. Appealing to Hades and Persephone, I was told that Eurydice would follow me to the world above, so long as I didn't turn and look behind me until we both left the underworld.

"Hades… tricked me. When I at last stood under the sun again, I turned to embrace her. But she still stood in the shadow of the underworld. She was stolen from me again, and the entrance was sealed to me. When I realized there would be no second chance, I attempted to join her there in death. That was when I discovered that no matter what was done to my body, I could never die.

"Decades passed as I wandered the earth. I tried to die many times, in every way I could think of, but nothing took hold. I did learn, however, that there are ways to destroy something like me utterly. Immolation, Ingestion," he ticked off the options on his fingers. "Basically, anything that leaves no physical remains or something that takes the physical form into another vessel. So when chance presented, I allowed myself to be attacked and consumed by the Baccheae, who were more or less a tribe of cannibals. Again, fate was against me, and they left my head untouched and flung me into a river." He smiled bitterly. "At the very least, I learned what my dream had meant.

"My father came to me when I washed up on shore. He had prepared a place where I would be cared for, a small temple away from the mainland. I resided on a shelf for the better part of five thousand years. I gained some repute as an oracle, and from time to time, supplicants came to the temple where I was cared for. I was stolen once, and taken to France during the revolution for a time. But eventually I was brought back to my 'home'.

"One day, my father returned. He was, ironically enough, seeking my aid this time. I told him my price, and in return for my aid in locating his elder brother, he ended my suffering and finally let me die. That was twelve years ago."

He sat down and drank from the jar again. He looked defeated, withered. It was costing him a lot, it appeared. "When I arrived in the underworld, Eurydice was nowhere to be found. She had moved on and been born into another world. I entreated upon my father, but-" He stopped.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"What I am about to tell you is…"he searched, "very secret. Only a few beings in existence know of all that transpired. You may never speak of this to anyone." He looked around the table, they all tacitly agreed. "All right. The furies, the hellhounds of my world, they killed my father because he spilled my blood. He was reborn in a child who had been conceived in the dreaming, as I was. Daniel the Dreamborn is the current incarnation of Dream of the Endless.

"When I called to my father from the Elysian Fields, it was Daniel who appeared to me. I begged him for a way to leave to search for Eurydice. He agreed, and I took on the mantle of the Paladin. There are situations in which my Lord's hand cannot be seen to intervene. So though I am a nightmare, I draw my strength from another source, and when I strike, it is not in the name of the Dreaming. Most of my duties involve protecting stories, or culling those that have gone wrong beyond redemption. In return, I am free to travel where I will when I am not on assignment," He looked down at his hands, folded on the table. "That's my story. Any questions?"

For a moment nobody spoke, then Raven and Cyborg both started to say something at once. Raven inclined her head to Cyborg, and he asked, "You said you can't talk about what happened with Death and in the underworld. Because nobody knows it. Why is that?"

"Because at one point, I theorized that, being descended from the incarnation of stories, I could only cease to exist when I was completely unknown to the world. It made sense at the time, and I wove a spell that prevented anyone who made the connection from communicating it ever again." He shrugged. "It didn't work, but I prefer being unknown, truth be told."

"All right," Cyborg said. "I can't think of anything else. Sucks for you, though, bro."

Talon blinked. "Thank you. Lady blackbird?" he asked, "what did you want?"

"Call me that again, and I swear to every conceivable god-" she began, but Talon held his hands up in supplication.

"My apologies. Please; your question?"

"Fine. I told Robin who you were, and your Name. So how come I wasn't affected by your spell?"

"That's…" Talon paused and looked confused. "That's a _very_ good question. I'll have to look into that."

"All right," Robin said, "I've got one. You're trying to turn Beast Boy into what you are now. From what I heard from him, it's basically a killer-for-hire."

"That's a very negative way to describe-"

"Let me finish. Why? Why did it turn your whole outlook around when you realized he had a shot back on day one?"

Talon looked at him levelly. "Because it's quite rare for-"

"Don't lie to me, Orpheus. Remember who taught _me_ the ropes. I think you're back on your usual kick. I don't think there's much of a retirement package for this Paladin gig, is there?"

"There is some precedent for-"

"_Is there?" _Robin slammed his hand down on the table. If looks could kill, Talon would have been a swiftly-fading memory.

"….Not usually," Talon admitted. "The fact that he is learning from a living master is quite rare."

"And you expect me to just let you sign him up for that? My _friend?" _He was visibly restraining himself.

"Robin, stop it," Beast Boy said. "It's not your choice, it's mine."

"Beast Boy, you're being an idiot. Look at this joker! _This _is where you're going to end up if you keep chasing her! Just let-" He broke off as a green fist struck him in the face. Robin fell backwards out of his chair, more in shock than in pain.

"_Shut up!_" Beast Boy yelled. "You don't know what it's like!" He raised his fist to hit Robin again. As he started to swing, though, his wrist was caught. Talon stood to his side.

"You're right," Talon said quietly. "He doesn't. But I do. If that's why you're doing this, then quit. It's not worth it. Take it from somebody who knows loss."

Beast Boy looked around. Everyone was on their feet, ready to intervene if things got hairy. "But… It's my only chance." He wiped the back of his left hand across his eyes. "You can let me go now. I'm calm," he said in a low voice. Talon released him, and he slumped back into his seat.

"The hope makes it worse," Talon said quietly. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah. It does."

Talon laid a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you agree so easily. If you want to reconsider, I won't hold it against you. When you want to talk, I'll be in my chambers." He looked around. "Things got out of hand, we're all tired. With Robin's permission, I'd like to postpone the rest of my past for another night.

Robin got up, rubbing his jaw. "That's probably a good idea. Hell of a right hook he's developed, though." He turned and left the room, muttering under his breath. Starfire started to follow him, but had second thoughts and hesitated. Cyborg gave her a light shove and a pointed look, and she took the hint and followed Robin.

"Well," Talon said, to the three who were left. "That could have gone better. The five of you are becoming much more interesting than I first thought." He bowed slightly and started to leave.

"Hang on," Cyborg said. Talon raised his eyebrows. "You don't sound like Shakespeare on a high horse anymore. What's up with that?"

"Oh," Talon said, with a dismissive shrug, "I've just been talking a lot. It speeds up the acclimation process considerably. After all, I wouldn't be much good as an 'assassin' if I stuck out like a sore thumb, would I?" Satisfied that there would be no more questions, he made his exit.

Beast Boy left without acknowledging the others, and Raven and Cyborg went their separate ways after a curt nod. Nobody remained in the room to watch the sun rise on the new day a few moments later.


	9. Chapter 8: I'll Keep Your Secrets

Chapter 8

I'll Keep Your Secrets

"Dammit!" Robin slammed his fist on the keyboard. Something snapped audibly, and he swore again. There was a knock at the door, and Starfire peeked in. The light from the hallway illuminated the mainframe room more than usual, which still irritated him. He was still used to the batcave's dark atmosphere, even after all this time.

"Is everything all right, friend Robin?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, Star. I'm just a bit angry."

"At who?" she asked, coming in and standing behind him. Robin found himself noticing how close she was, how good she smelled. Maybe he'd done enough work for the day. Maybe he should-

No. He shook his head and turned around. "Slade. Do you remember when he set those bombs a few weeks ago?" It had been a bad week; they hadn't found all the bombs in time, and people had been seriously hurt. Someone had died.

"I remember," she said quietly. "Is it Slade you are upset with?"

"Yes. I traced tracking orders for various unusual compounds in the bombs, and I finally have the name of who ordered them."

"But surely that is good news?"

"Not this time." Robin hit a couple of keys, which miraculously still worked, and the name 'Lief Astral' appeared onscreen with an address.

"I do not understand, Robin. Why is that a problem?" she asked.

"It's an anagram, Star," he paused. "When the letters are rearranged, they spell something." He hit a few more keys and the letters rearranged themselves on the screen. They now read, "False Trail".

"Oh, I see. And what about the address? Don't your people keep records of those?"

"Yes, Star," he sighed. "But that address is where the last bomb went off. The one we couldn't stop.

"I am sorry, Robin," Starfire said sadly. Suddenly she brightened. "But wait! Is not 'Slade' an uncommon name? Why do you not just use the book of the phone? Friend Raven showed me how to use it to obtain the Chinese food!"

Robin rubbed his forehead without turning around. "Starfire, that's a stupid idea. It's not going to be that simple." It came out harsher than he intended, and he heard a small intake of breath from her. When she spoke again, it was quieter, almost pleading.

"Please, Robin, you are becoming too concerned with this. Please, come with me and-"

"Too concerned?" He spun on his heel. Glaring at her, he gestured angrily at a corkboard filled with pictures and profiles of people. "Those are the people who were hurt because I wasn't fast enough to get ahead of Slade! One of them _died_because of me! Don't you dare say I'm 'too concerned' with this. If anything, the rest of you aren't concerned enough! If you aren't going to be helpful, then leave me to my work." With that, he turned back to the monitor and resumed the task at hand.

He didn't turn to look when he heard the door side shut, but he caught the barest sound of sobbing before it completely closed. He hit his forehead against the screen.

"Great job, Boy Blunder," he muttered to himself. It was an utter relief when his communicator buzzed, distracting him.

Starfire walked quickly, not quite running, through the halls. She didn't know where she was going, but she was too upset to fly. Her eyes misted up as she went over and over what had just happened. _I'm so stupid_, she thought. _All I wanted to do was show him I could be useful. Now he thinks I'm an idiot._

She was so preoccupied that she didn't see someone stepping into the hallway in front of her. When the collision came, it was so unexpected that she lost her balance and fell backward. Talon sat a few feet away, with the pack he'd been carrying laying on the floor behind him. In other circumstances, the look on his face would have sent her into giggles, but in light of her recent issues, it caused everything to well up at once. Her vision started to blur, and her lip began trembling. Talon paled.

"No, no, don't cry." He was as her side in a moment, helping her to her feet. "No harm done, right?" He looked left and right nervously. "_Please_ don't cry."  
She wiped her eyes. His face looked utterly clownish, trying to balance caring and fear at once. "I'm sorry," she said with a smile. "Were you taking that to your room?" she indicated the heavy pack.

"Yes, I had forgotten a few things I will need to teach Garfield," he said.

"Well, allow me to carry that for you, then." She reached for it, but he waved her off and heaved it onto his back.

"No, I can't ask you to-" he began, but stopped when he found his feet leaving the floor. Looking back, he saw that Starfire had both the heavy satchel and himself lifted up with one arm.

"…fine," he said, dropping lightly to the ground with as much dignity as he could muster. She smirked a bit as he led the way with a stiffened back, the very picture of wounded pride.

He opened the door and held it for her with a look that dared her to object. She decided not to. "Where would you like me to put…the…" the sentence died away as she took in the large room. Blinking a couple times, she leaned back out into the hallway, then back into Talon's room.

"What-"

"Anywhere, really," Talon said, squeezing past her. "Are you okay?" Starfire was still new to reading human faces, but Talon wasn't even bothering to hide his amusement at her confusion.  
"This room. It's-"

"Bigger on the inside, yes. Why does everyone find that strange?"

"How?" she asked, setting down the pack in an empty corner of the room.

He shrugged. "Magic." At her annoyed look, he held up a hand. "Seriously." He flicked a hand at the door, and a soft breeze blew it shut. "See? Magic." He stepped into the hallway and then into an adjoining room. A moment later, he stuck his head back out. "Are you going to stay standing there all day?"

Starfire followed him into the small room. Cupboards and cabinets covered the walls up to the ceiling, and four tall chests of drawers stood back-to-back, leaving barely enough room to walk in between them and the outer cabinets. Talon stood on a stepladder in front of one of these, peering into drawers, obviously looking for something.

"Where did I put it?" He muttered, opening another drawer and rooting through it. Momentarily, he shut it irritably. He addressed her without turning, as he opened the next drawer. "So? Why were you crying in the hall? Or were you just trying to get me killed?"

"What?"

He smiled at her. "It was a joke. Sort of. Do you remember where you ran into me?"  
She nodded. "In front of Raven's-" it dawned on her, and she saw the earlier scene as an outsider; Starfire on the ground with Talon wielding a heavy satchel. "Oh. Do you really think friend Raven would have jumped to conclusions?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But she doesn't like me much," he chuckled. "So why _were_you? Since it apparently wasn't a clever and subtle ploy? I won't tell anyone, I swear."

She smiled slightly and started to tell him, but had second thoughts. "And why would I confide in _you, _of all people?" It came out angrier than she intended, and she amended, "I did not mean that."

"No offense taken," he said, slapping another drawer closed. "…I don't suppose you have that see-through-things eyesight?" She shook her head and he made a disappointed sound. "I was only being polite. Besides, if something like me swears not to do something, it's literally impossible for us to go back on it. I thought you might need someone to talk to outside your friends, since you obviously didn't want to go to one of the-"

"Something like you?" she asked.

"Nightmares, faeries, and most other immortals. When- Aha!" He broke off as he apparently found what he was looking for. He held it up and shut the drawer by swinging his hip into it, then tossed the item to Starfire as he jumped down. She caught it and looked closely at it. It was a pair of goggles that had tinted lenses and several small, brightly-colored buttons on either side. They were set on a leather band that would encircle the wearer's head. "Try those on, if you would. They don't work for me. "

She gave him a distrusting look, but donned the goggles and adjusted them. Everything looked blurry, but otherwise unchanged. "Is something special supposed to happen now? I see nothing different." Before he could answer, she asked the other question. "And what makes you think I cannot talk to my friends about- it is none of your business what about!" She snapped, lifting the goggles off and poking him in the chest with a finger.

He blinked. "I… apologize. I assumed with you running past Raven's room you weren't going to talk to anyone, just go to your room and cry about it."

He was right, but she wasn't about to give him that satisfaction. "Well, you thought wrong!"  
He lowered his head. "I'm sorry. It was presumptuous. But please, put those back on and press the green buttons."

She considered bouncing the goggles off his head. _He is trying to be friendly,_ she reminded herself. _Or so he says. _So instead, she simply put them back on. Surprisingly, as soon as she thought of the green buttons, she knew exactly where to reach on either side of the lenses. She pressed them, but nothing seemed to happen. Everything was eclipsed by a brilliant emerald flash, and when it subsided, she could see _through_Talon; see the branching pathways of nerves throughout his body, veins and arteries pulsating.

"Wow," she said, reaching up to press another set of buttons. When she pressed these, which were red, she could see a multicolored mist trailing through the room and around them both. "What is this?" she asked, trying to reach out and touch it. Her hands passed through, but she felt nothing.

"I don't know. I can't tell what you're seeing. Describe it," he said. She gasped. When he spoke, the mist swirled around and through him, and he lit up like a Christmas light bulb. She told him this, and he nodded in comprehension. "Energy flow, magic, chi. I'm sure your people have some word for it." He started rummaging on the shelves in another corner of the room. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," he said. "Play with those for a while if you like. I have one other artifact to find."

Starfire began to look around the room, trying new button combinations. Some did nothing that she could see, some were interesting, and one, when pressed, made everything vanish. She was floating in an infinite black expanse. She looked for Talon, and suddenly he was back in front of her, floating in the void. Reaching out, she could still feel the cabinets and walls around her. As she felt her way around, she noticed Talon looking at her curiously.

"That one makes you blind?" he asked.

"I think so. I can't even see the floo-" she trailed off. As soon as she thought about the floor, specifically, it appeared. With dawning comprehension, she thought about the cabinet in the northwest corner, and it appeared. "No. I think this shows what you're looking for. "

He snorted. "Of course it does. One tool in my arsenal that I can't use, and it's that useful."

"Why can you not wear these?" she asked.

"Not important," he said. "I don't exactly see with my eyes. But…" he thought for a moment.

"Look for a box full of star-shaped pendants. The box is wood, and the stars are silver."

She concentrated on that, and suddenly the box was floating in midair above Talon's head.  
"There it is!" she said happily, and reached for it. He cried out and tried to stop her, but she felt her hand crash through something hard and suddenly Talon was on the ground. In alarm, she pulled the goggles off, and realized what she had done. Talon was half-laying on the floor, with one of the cabinets on top of him. She had knocked it completely off the wall when she tried to reach through it. She lifted it off him and set it on the floor. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," he said. He stood up and brushed himself off. "But next time, just point." He opened the cabinet she had been reaching for and pulled out the sandalwood box. Opening it, he separated two of the pendants from the tangle. He tossed one to Starfire. "For you. Call it an apology for making you cry, or a payment for helping me here. Whichever makes me less of an ass."

"What is it?" she asked, looking it over.

"It's… camouflage, I suppose. Wear it, and people see someone unremarkable , whose presence is accepted but not noticed. Next best thing to invisibility." He shrugged. "Garfield needs one, because he's green. But if you ever wanted to just walk around and not be noticed as a Titan wherever you go…" He shrugged again.

"That is interesting," she said. "Thank you." She looked at the pendant for a moment, then ventured, "If you really won't tell anyone, I would like to talk."

He smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a Titans communicator. He pressed a button and spoke. "Beast Boy, it's Talon. Something's come up, and I don't know how long it will be. Take a personal day." Without waiting for a response, he clicked the communicator off, and led the way back to the main room.

"So, start from the beginning. What happened?" he asked, pointing for her to sit down in a chair. While she did so, he went to a small cabinet in the wall and pulled a bag of some sort with a sling attached out. He slung this across his shoulder, and picked up a pair of glasses that he brought with him. He poured something out of the bag into one of the cups and handed it to her. It was sweet and energizing. She told him everything that had happened between her and Robin, and he listened patiently.

"Well, why did you think the phone book would be a good idea?" Talon asked. When she looked hurt, he apologized. "I wasn't accusing. But why, exactly?"

She sniffed. "On my planet, such notorious villains advertise their presence most extravagantly, daring the guard or heroes to stop them. "

"Because on Tamaran, everything's about strength," Talon said, understanding. "That's what's wrong. Criminals here are cowards, not braggarts. It would be more like looking for the weakest person on Tamaran. He would do everything he could to duck attention, you see." He chewed his lip. "Although, are you sure Slade is the name he's using?"

"Well, yes. We have fought him enough that I'm very certain."

"That's odd," Talon said. "I knew a man named Slade once. Many years ago. He and I used to play chess in his dreams. But I think he died." He waved his hand. "Not important. So, do you think Robin _meant_to be an ass to you? It sounds more like he was just preoccupied."

"It's not just that, though," she said gloomily. "I like Robin very much, but he does not seem to be interested at all. On my planet, I would simply take him like is natural, but as you pointed out, this planet is very backwards."

"I see," Talon said. He took a drink, then set it aside and steepled his fingers. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

Starfire glared at him, her eyes blazing. He recoiled. "I'm sorry. I misspoke. I meant that I want to help. Tell me how."

She deflated. "I don't know. If I knew a way to make friend Robin notice me, I would have _done _it already." She looked at Talon, pleading.

"Well, to be fair, 'simply taking him' would probably get his attention. Of course, the bystanders would probably appreciate it more than Robin." He grinned, but faltered when she frowned at him again. "Sorry. What about making him jealous?"

"How would I do that?" she asked. She saw the merit in the suggestion, considering how worked up she had gotten when Robin was blackmailed into dating another girl.

"Well," he mused, "courting someone else very obviously in front of the one you're trying to make jealous is a popular choice."

"I do not like playing with people like that. If someone started the dating with me, and then found out about this, he-"

"-or she-" Talon interjected. She shot him a scathing look. "What? I'm a male. It's a whole 'thing.'"

"_HE,"_she continued severely, "would be devastated. And that would be wrong."

"Well, then find someone to agree with it. You're famous, and very attractive. I'm sure you could explain the ploy to the first male-" She stared at him, daring to say it again. Talon chose the better part of valor. "-and he would jump at the chance to help you, even for a single false date."

"Hmmm…" She thought it over for a few minutes. "It might work. I don't like the idea, but I like the idea of Robin continuing to ignore me even less." She stood. "Thank you. I will stop intruding on your time."

Talon stood and walked her to the door. "My pleasure. Although," he amended, "if you're not busy, would you mind helping me teach Garfield a few things? It will be helpful to have a living body rather than a dummy."

"Of course," she said. She paused. "Does this make us friends now?"

"Perhaps. At the least, you're no longer trying to kill me, correct?"

She flinched. She opened her mouth, intending to tell him about the three women in the alley, but at the last moment decided so simply say, "I suppose not."

She turned to leave, and Talon spoke again. "You know…. If it was a woman, you wouldn't even have to choose betw-YOW!" he broke off, dodging a cuff that would have sent him sprawling.

"Oh, grow a sense of humor," he said and grinned.

Starfire matched his smile, and floated off down the hallway towards her own room.

"Right. I'll be out there before morning," Robin said. On the screen, Bumblebee nodded in acknowledgement, and Robin killed the transmission. He gave his communicator a click and said, "Titans. Meet me in the main room."

He picked up a thick stack of printout and started reading as he walked. When he entered the living area, he barely noticed the others, past a quick headcount. The file was much more disturbing than he had first thought.

He looked up. Everyone was there, at least, although the ones paying attention were giving him looks of varying levels of interest and annoyance. Well, everyone who was there. Cyborg was still down in the garage, having returned a message to the effect that the new engine modification remained unstable, and that without constant attention it might 'blow us back to the seventies'.

Raven was, as always, holding a book, and looked annoyed at having been interrupted. A cup of tea still steamed on the table near her hand. Starfire was hovering about slowly, not seeming to focus on any one thing for long. She kept glancing over at Beast Boy. Beast Boy had the giant screen slaved to the newest game, and was in the midst of running a chainsaw through an alien. Talon was idly watching him; and, Robin noted with a certain appreciation for the surreality, enjoying a pudding cup.

"Hey guys. Big news. Cy should be up in a few minutes, and I'll tell you all at once," he said distractedly, still engrossed in the case files. He poured himself a drink and sat down.

There was a shuddering rumble throughout the tower, and a moment later, Cyborg announced over the radio: "Well, it didn't stabilize the way I thought it would, but I don't see bell bottoms, so it's not a total failure. I'll be up there in a bit, save me a slice of pizza."

Sure enough, a scant minute later, Cyborg jogged into the room, slightly singed. "So what's such a big flaming deal that a guy can't work on his car for five minutes?" he asked with a grin.

"I've been on the comm with Bumblebee all day. There's been a rash of unsolved murders in East City, and they want me out there to help them investigate. I'll be heading out there immediately. No idea when I'll be back. Are any of the vehicles still working?" he asked, with a glance to Cyborg.

"Hell, that was nothing! It didn't even total the T-car this time!" Cyborg was the very picture of wounded pride, though his grin betrayed his good humor.

"All right, then. Nothing unusual as far as orders go, then. But anything out of the ordinary, any new faces on the other team, anything goes wrong that even _looks_like it's some of his-" he nodded at Talon, who raised an eyebrow, sucking on the spoon he held "-doing, and you call me." He looked around, saw four faces in agreement and one scowling, and nodded. "Good. Then I'm leaving." He turned and walked out of the room.

As the doors started to close behind him, Starfire blurted out- not yelling, but loud enough to carry- "I am going out on the dating with Talon tonight!" He froze, and the door slid shut behind him.

_What do I do?_ his mind raced. _Did I hear that wrong? Do I go back in and ask?_ He leaned back heavily against the door. _Is this because of what I said to her? Is it my fault? I have to go back, I have to tell her-_He stopped. A memory flashed across his mind.

_"Why did you trick us and dress up as the Red X? Did you not trust us? Trust.. me?"_  
_"It's not that, Star. But I needed Slade to see you fighting me all-out. Your reaction was part of my trick, do you see? If you knew it was me, you wouldn't have fought so hard."_

He smiled. _Clever. She must be trying to keep him close, keep him under watch. Even if she's only doing it to prove something to me or herself after how I insulted her, that's good. _He considered going back in, confronting her in order to help sell her story, but decided against it. _I've been out here too long now. If I went back now, it'd smack of a setup._He did the only thing he could: prayed for the best, and continued on.

Back in the living room, the silence was oppressive and palpable. In the wake of Starfire's outburst, nobody had so much as twitched. Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg glared daggers at Talon and Star interchangeably. Starfire was blushing a furious red and was doing her best to sink into the couch. Talon had gone pale, and his mouth was working soundlessly.

Beast Boy was the first to recover. He walked over, grabbed Starfire's wrist, and pulled her towards the door opposite where Robin had exited, saying only "Talk. Outside." Then the door shut behind them.

Raven and Cyborg closed on Talon, furious. Raven spoke first. "How dare you? What did you do, brainwash her? Hypnosis?" She reached for his mind and caught a flash of image. "You gave her jewelry?" Talon's mouth worked a bit more, but no sound came out. She pushed harder on his mind. It gave her pause. "You... didn't. It was her idea? What is wrong with that girl?"

Glaring at Talon, she got down in his face. "If you hurt her.." She let it trail off ominously, then turned on her heel and went after Starfire, leaving Talon and Cyborg alone.

"Not cool, dude." Cyborg shook his head. "You just broke practically every man law. At once." Talon remained silent. "Don't you have _anything_to say?"

Talon held up a finger, then opened his mouth and somehow managed to reach down his own throat. After a good deal of retching, he managed to extricate a spoon. Cyborg blinked. He hadn't noticed the spoon Talon had been eating with was missing. He grinned. "Now I get it. Seemed pretty odd that you shut up for once." When Talon made to hand the spoon over, Cyborg held up his hands. "No. No, you can keep that. You'll need it to dig Robin's boot out of your ass." This apparently struck Cyborg as hilarious, because he threw his head back and guffawed all the way out of the room, leaving Talon to stew.


End file.
